Three storylines that will decide Bedlam dual

NORMAN — The first Bedlam wrestling dual of the season arrives on Sunday.

Eighteenth-ranked OU hosts No. 11 Oklahoma State at 2 p.m. inside McCasland Field House, to be broadcast on ESPN+.

While the Sooners are 4-1 on the young season, this will be OSU’s third dual of the season.

Both teams are coming off wins over ranked opponents, with OU topping No. 21 West Virginia 21-19 last Sunday, and the Cowboys downing No. 20 Lehigh 2512 on Friday night at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.

Here are three storylines to watch for the first Bedlam dual of the season:

New faces

Depending on how the lineups shake out, more than half of the wrestlers could be taking part in their first Bedlam.

And on top of that, this is the Bedlam debut for new OU coach Roger Kish, too. Kish, of course, is not new to the Big 12. He was the North Dakota State coach when that program joined the league in 2015 and guided NDSU’s rise on the national landscape over the last decadeplus.

Now, he’s being tasked with breathing life back into a Sooner program that has plateaued as a middle-tier team in the Big 12. And finding success against the in-state rival will be critical, considering the Sooners haven’t won a Bedlam dual since 2013.

There is little history to rely on for this matchup, considering all the new starters in both lineups. Based on potential starters, this dual will be the first meeting between the wrestlers at eight — and possibly nine — of the weight classes.

OSU’s health in question

The Cowboys won on Friday without two highly ranked wrestlers, and coach John Smith provided little clarity as to their health for Sunday.

Daton Fix, ranked third at 133 pounds, and Luke Surber, ranked 12th at 197, both missed the Lehigh dual with recently sustained injuries.

With Fix, OSU would be a significant favorite at 133, but if he can’t go, the Cowboys would likely call on Reece Witcraft, who filled in against Lehigh, though Zach Blankenship could also get some consideration.

At 197, the Sooners have secondranked and unbeaten Stephen Buchanan, a Wyoming transfer who redshirted last year and defeated Surber in their only previous matchup.

If Surber is unavailable, Buchanan could be a candidate for a bonus-point win.

Key matchups

The injury uncertainty aside, a few other matchups will go a long way toward deciding Sunday’s result.

At 141 pounds, OSU’s ninth-ranked Tagen Jamison will face No. 10 Mosha Schwarts of OU. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two, though Schwarts has the experience edge as a fifth-year senior while Jamison is a redshirt freshman.

At 174, OU has 17th-ranked Tate Picklo, who was a key figure emerging over the second half of last season. OSU will send out true freshman Brayden Thompson, who is coming off his first victory of the year on Friday. He was one of the top recruits in the country in the 2023 signing class.

Should the dual go in weight order — which won’t be known until Sunday afternoon — the finale could be a critical heavyweight matchup between OU’s No. 10 Josh Heindselman and OSU’s 11thranked Konnor Doucet. They’ve met twice, each winning once.

DEVIN LAWRENCE WILBER Will Oklahoma State's Daton Fix be healthy in time for the year's first Bedlam wrestling dual? OSU visits OU at 2 p.m. Sunday at McCasland Fieldhouse in Norman.