One of the Big 12 football championship trophies, belonging to the Oklahoma Sooners, was accidentally broken on Saturday afternoon.
If you’re a fan of the Big 12, then surely you know the rivarly between the Oklahoma Sooners and their in-state rival Oklahoma State Cowboys. This past season, the Sooners beat the Cowboys on Bedlam Saturday (cue my sad face) 38-20 to secure their 10th Big 12 Championship. Well apparently the trophy (or one of the previous nine) had a rough day on Saturday, as one of the trophies was accidentally broken.
That Bedlam victory was back on December 3. They’ve had time to celebrate their Bedlam win (a premier rivalry in college football), gloat over another Big 12 Championship, and enjoy it. But as you’ll see courtesy of OU offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley below, moving the trophy turned out to be a bad idea.
Bad News: The Big 12 Championship Trophy was broken today.
— Lincoln Riley (@LincolnRiley) January 28, 2017
Good News: We have 9 others.#BoomerSooner pic.twitter.com/TeXnur0RTn
The Big 12 trophy features its signature logo as well as the other logos for the schools involved in the conference. The trophy is worth around $30,000. So dropping it is kind of a big deal. But it’s not the first time it’s happened, either.
In 2012, after Alabama racked up another national title, the trophy was accidentally dropped by the father of one of the players. It was on display, and not exactly secured the best way possible. But it suffered the same fate as a trophy did this year.
Alabama had its BCS Coaches Trophy crystal ball shatter on Saturday. Story coming soon. Here's what's left: pic.twitter.com/UgZABoVq
— Alex Scarborough (@AlexS_ESPN) April 16, 2012
Maybe putting a trophy on a dolly to move across campus wasn’t the most logical choice here. But during a busy recruiting weekend, they wanted to make sure all of their championship hardware was on full display. So it looks like one of those beloved trophies will be missing on Wednesday, when Bob Stoops and company will be at OU’s signing day press conference.
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In a bit of a twist, Bedlam 2017 has taken a bit of a change this year. While the annual OU-OSU battle is typically the final week of the regular season, this year’s edition will be held week 10, November 4, in Stillwater. This will be a full month before the Big 12 Championship in Arlington.