Big-stakes Bedlam
Oklahoma State, Oklahoma set to face off in Norman for the conference championship and a berth in the Sugar Bowl.
Mason Rudolph certainly wasn’t overwhelmed by the setting of his first significant start.
It was two years ago and the final game of the regular season for struggling Oklahoma State. Cowboys coach Mike Gundy had decided two weeks before to take the redshirt off of Rudolph, allowing the true freshman from South Carolina full control of Gundy’s beleaguered offense on a rainy night in Waco against Baylor.
So Oklahoma State took a five-game losing streak into its annual Bedlam game against Oklahoma. No one expected much of the Cowboys, which was why their come-from-behind win in overtime over the Sooners was so shocking.
Rudolph threw a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to help ignite the Cowboys’ surge to overcome a 14-point deficit. He then led Oklahoma State to the winning field goal to clinch the 38-35 victory. In the previous four games, the Cowboys had averaged just 10 points.
In hindsight, Gundy thinks
Rudolph was too raw to realize how massive the game was to folks who live in Oklahoma.
“(He) probably wasn’t far enough along to figure out the situation he was in,” Gundy said this week. “Sometimes youth can be as much of a benefit as maybe anything involved in saying, ‘Hey, I’m just going to go play the game.’”
Rudolph and Oklahoma State will be in far better shape this Saturday as the Cowboys (9-2, 7-1 Big 12) travel to Norman to face the Sooners (9-2, 8-0). The win- ner of the game will claim the Big 12 championship and a berth in the Sugar Bowl. If enough chaos unfolds in other championship games across the country, the vic- tor also might be included among the four-team playoff br a cket that will be announced Sunday.
Oklahoma’s stars are far more known to the college football masses. Quarterback Baker Mayfield was fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting last season, and with an excellent game against the Cowboys, he could be a via- ble candidate for this year’s honor. Receiver Dede West- brook also is a Heisman contender. He was ranked No. 1 this week on ESPN’s list of the top 50 players in the country. OU’s tailback tandem of Joe Mixon and Sam- aje Perine also is terrific.
But the most valuable player in the Big 12 might be Rudolph. He’s thrown for 3,591 yards this season. His average of 326.5 yards a game ranks fifth nationally. And he’s thrown 25 touch- down passes with just four interceptions.
A year ago, Gundy replaced Rudolph in short yardage or goal-line situations with J.W. Walsh. But this season it’s been all Rudolph. He’s also been helped greatly by Oklahoma State’s running game, which was a no-show for much of 2015.
The Cowboys b elieve themselves to be a far bet- ter team than they were a year ago when they lost at home to Oklahoma 58-23. Rudolph, struggling with injuries, played just three snaps versus OU last year.
“I think there are so many facets of our game that are strengths this year but that we struggled with last year,” Rudolph said. “We’re balanced offensively now, the running game is great, and we’ve got the ability to just pound the ball. Our defense has been playing great, too.”
In Oklahoma State’s last game, a 31-6 win at TCU, Ru d olph’s perform a nce was benign. That was OK for Gundy. Rudolph com- pleted only 50 percent of his passes for 207 yards. The Cowboys relied mostly on their running game, with both Chris Carson and Justice Hill rushing for more than 140 yards.
“He’s had a great year,” OU defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said of Rudolph. “He’s a talented player, and he’s your prototypical thrower back there. He sees the field well, gets the ball out and throws the deep ball out especially well.”