This Saturday, Oklahoma will be looking to make it back-to-back years beating Oklahoma State in a de facto Big 12 Championship Game on the last weekend of the regular season. While Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff aspirations dance in the periphery, these two teams are only worried about one word: Bedlam.

Here's what was learned on the field and off it from the Bob Stoops weekly press conference ahead of the Sooner head coach's first opportunity to clinch a conference crown on Owen Field.

1. Michiah Quick is no longer with the team due to violation of team rules.

Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops announced, somewhat nonchalantly, that cornerback Michiah Quick is no longer a member of the Sooners for violating team rules, but that he will be allowed to finish his physical rehab with the team until the end of the semester:

"Michiah’s coming along but he’s no longer going to be with us. Well, he had been coming along but he’s not with the team, but he’s still, while he finishes the semester, welcome to rehab."

The strange presentation of the news aside, Quick showed promise as a defensive back taking over for Dakota Austin and Parrish Cobb before suffering a knee injury, so this is a blow for OU heading into next season. Now a thin position gets even thinner, although, freshman cornerback Jordan Parker might be providing a silver lining to that reality:

"(Parker)'s come a long way, really, for a guy that missed all of our summer and two-a-day sessions, as well."

2. Jordan Evans and Matt Romar expected to play, Will Johnson likely out.

The Oklahoma defense has battled injuries all year, but they received some good news on Monday about a pair of banged up upperclassmen in the front seven. Stoops announced that Jordan Evans and Matt Romar are both expected to play against Bedlam after being hobbled physically:

"Oh I’m sure there'll be a question (if he'll play), but right now (Evans) rested all last week and he’s scheduled to do some things today and I’m fairly confident by the end of the week he’ll be ready to play... Romar’s fine. He practiced all last week and doing well."

However, nickelback Will Johnson will likely be forced to miss another game with a knee injury:

"No, we’ll see here this week but right now I would not expect him to play unless something changes."

3. Bedlam is a big deal.

While this was already well-known before Monday, it became clear just how much this game means to Oklahoma.

As Stoops said, OU has had its fair share of heated rivalries and big games during his tenure in Norman:

"Bedlam, Nebraska, Texas, about everybody we play, right? When we show up, the stadium's full."

But according to Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, none are bigger than Oklahoma State. The Houston (Texas) Alief Taylor alumnus has high school teammates playing for the Cowboys (Keenen Brown and Kenneth Edison-McGruder), who have apparently been exchanging trash talk heated enough that the Sooner linebacker would not share it to the media.

The dislike of Oklahoma State by the Oklahoma players is so contagious that it spread to Georgia native Orlando Brown:

"I don't like 'em because my teammates don't like 'em."

Stoops himself said there would be no need for a fiery speech from the head coach to motivate his players:

"No. It’s for the Big 12 championship, right? It’s a top-10 team we’re playing. What more do you need to say? For the Big 12 championship. If you got to say more than that, I need to check the intellect of some of these guys."

1. Oklahoma won't lose sight of recruiting this week.

With such an important match-up on the field about to take place, many might expect the OU coaching staff to put their recruiting efforts on the back-burner this week. However, Bob Stoops said that is not the case:

"Listen, it’s ongoing, man. You’re hustling all the time. We’ve got a fantastic, one of our best recruiting classes going. We’re gonna do our best to reach them as much as we can, even some this week. That’s just part of it. You have to manage it some with the game, and having extra time a week ago, I feel like we’re in good shape with our game plan for this week."

2. Stoops doesn't believe multiple team departures reflect the team's culture.

Charles Walker, Matt Dimon, and now Michiah Quick are all guys that were expected to contribute in 2016, but instead are no longer even with the team.

When asked if the influx of players leaving was indicative of anything cultural happening, Bob Stoops would have none of it:

"One guy said he wanted to get ready for the NFL and another guy, it was disciplinary issues and not doing what they needed to do... Every now and then you have that."

Stoops doesn't believe it's a sign of changing times or any other larger shift and says the standards for his players have always been the same:

"Our expectations have been very consistent for a good number of years and it's produced quite a bit of consistency in how we've played."

1. Jeffery Mead's emergence won't be a fluke.

Before the year began, there were concerns over how the Sooners could replace the productivity from Sterling Shepard at wide receiver and it's no surprise that Oklahoma didn't begin to turn their season around until Dede Westbrook was fully healthy. Next season, the same questions will arise when Westbrook leaves (along with Geno Lewis). Jeffery Mead's potential to fill part of that void as a red zone threat seems to have grown the last few weeks, along with his confidence.

After logging only one catch in OU's first seven games, the 6-foot-5 Mead now has two touchdowns in the last three weeks, earning the praise of his head coach:

"Jeff has made significant progress here in the last few weeks. He’s made plays that we’ve needed. I believe it’s given him more and more confidence to keep doing it."