Yes with all of the "Gundy shits the bed against OU all the time" talk forgets is that they have just flat been better than us for the vast, vast majority of the time. In Gundy's 15+ years as OSU's coach, there really only was one Bedlam game that he lost that we had absolutely, positively no business losing - the 2013 game. But then he also won one that we had absolutely positively no business winning (2014).
Outside of that, you have 2011 when we were a prohibitive favorite and absolutely curb-stomped them.
Every other game in the series during his tenure, OU was either the prohibitive favorite or the game could be classified as a "toss-up" at best.
On the whole you could say that he maybe should have won maybe 1 or 2 more of the "toss-up" games (I'd consider the 2021 win to be more or less a "toss up"); but it's not like he's constantly losing to them as a favorite. They have just regularly beaten EVERYONE.
WE didn't "drop them from the schedule." THEY left for the SEC, effectively ending the series for the foreseeable future.
As for scheduling them in the non-conference, we already have several non-conference series against P5 scheduled way into the future at this point, including series with Arkansas, Alabama, Oregon and Nebraska. Those series take us into the mid/late 2030s. I don't think anyone would say it's a great idea to throw OU in as a non-conference game with those games already scheduled.
That said, I think we will eventually start playing them as a non-conference game; it will just take a while to get it scheduled.
We also had a home-and-home scheduled with Colorado in the late 2030 that will obviously need to be filled now. I think there's a decent chance that Bedlam will take their place; and if not then probably in the 2040s.