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Mason Rudolph Tries To Keep Quirky Big 12 Streak Alive In Norman

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Saturday’s Bedlam game will be Mason Rudolph’s 19th Big 12 start. Two his freshman year. Eight last year. Nine this year. In the previous 18 games he is:

  • 0-3 against Baylor
  • 15-0 against every one else

That’s pretty weird, right? His five losses as a starter at Oklahoma State are Central Michigan, Ole Miss and Baylor (x3). He’s undefeated against everyone else. Remember, Rudolph didn’t start last year against OU, and he only threw three passes.

“I ran into a former OSU player this weekend who will remain nameless, and he and I were talking about Bedlam,” Carson Cunningham told me on our podcast on Monday. “He said, ‘nobody talks about how we didn’t have freaking Mason last year. Our entire offense changed. Nothing against J.W., J.W. was a great quarterback. I love J.W. I’d go to war with him any day. But our entire offense changed. That goes so unnoticed.'”

I know this to be true because I actually forget Rudolph didn’t play Bedlam last year, and this is what I do for a living. Gundy said on Monday that No. 2 is really starting to hit his stride as a college QB.

“He’s in his third year, but he’s really just in his second year,” said Gundy. “He’s at a point now where most quarterbacks really start to improve in the early part of their third season — once they’re into 25 games or so. He’s kind of developed into that and that’s where he’s at. He’s improving. He’s playing with confidence. He’s developed into a good leader.”

He was also asked about how in the world Rudolph, as a freshman, held the fort down in Norman in 2014 before the Ice Pirate closed things out in overtime.

“Probably not far enough along to figure out the situation he was in. He was from South Carolina. He just went and played. I’m sure he knew it was a big game, but sometimes youth can be as much of a benefit as anything involved and saying, ‘I’m just going to go play the game.'”

Now he has a chance to do what no other OSU QB has done in the modern era — win twice against Oklahoma on their home turf. He would also go 16-0 against Big 12 teams not named Baylor. That would be quite a feat for somebody with a full season of eligibility still left to go.

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