For those of you who don’t know (I tell just about anyone who listens to me), I think Mason Rudolph is the greatest quarterback in OSU’s history. Here is an article I wrote about it with a lot of my reasoning.
With that being said, many still point to Brandon Weeden as OSU’s all-time QB.
With Rudolph’s recent success in guiding the Steelers to the playoffs, it made me wonder. Could Rudolph climb ahead of Weeden in OSU lore with his NFL career?
- No
- Yes, it already has
- Yes, but he needs to do this for longer
- I already think Rudolph is the best QB in OSU history
For considering QBs in college, I don’t consider their NFL success or lack of success.
Chuba is a good example of this. Folks have been pumped about Ollie’s numbers when Chuba put up more yards overall in 2019, he just didn’t win the awards.
Compared to peers, Chuba plays for an atrocious team in the NFL, but we hear more about Jaylen Warren and Justice Hill because they’re on better teams with similar status as NFL RBs.
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I think Weeden is held in high esteem because he produced the best season for Oklahoma State in our lifetime.
Overall Mason had a great career for us but couldn’t quite get us over the hump to reach levels Weeden did.
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Weeden had an absolute Cannon. I think Mason is the better decision maker, but Weeden could sling it. The real question is how much of Weeden’s success was Justin Blackmon? James Washington is not Justin Blackmon and I’m not sure it’s very close.
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Alan bowman did with probably one, maybe 2 future NFL players what Mason was never able to do with about 74 NFL WRs and 2 NFL RBs on his roster.
When I judge OSU QB’s I don’t really think about their pro careers (mostly because I think Weedon is the best we’ve ever had a guy do in the pros) so if I stick to that the answer is no.
Maybe if Mason turns into a legit long term NFL starter and wins a Superbowl or has success in the playoffs over multiple seasons I’d give him the nod.
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Alan Bowman also got to play against a much easier schedule than Mason ever did, and we had really good injury luck last year, for what it’s worth.
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We had pretty good injury luck in 2017 too, I can’t remember any critical injuries. And both of them played one top 15 team (actually bowman played 2, but I won’t count Texas since it was postseason). Will admit that 2017 OU team was an insane juggernaut though.
Mason Rudolph headed an offense that scored 45 points a game in his disappointing senior season.
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College career numbers:
|
Weeden |
Rudolph |
| Pass Attempts |
1,103 |
1,447 |
| Completions |
767 |
915 |
| Yards |
9,260 |
13,618 |
| Touchdowns |
75 |
92 |
| Interceptions |
27 |
26 |
| Completion Percentage |
69.5 |
63.2 |
| Pass Efficiency |
157.6 |
159.7 |
| Yards Per Attempt |
8.4 |
9.4 |
| Yards Per Completion |
12.1 |
14.9 |
| Yards Per Game |
298.7 |
324.2 |
| Total Offense Per Game |
293.9 |
324.9 |
| Total Offense Per Play |
7.98 |
8.16 |
Senior season numbers
|
Weeden |
Rudolph |
| Attempts |
565 |
489 |
| Completions |
409 |
318 |
| Yards |
4,727 |
4,904 |
| Touchdowns |
37 |
37 |
| Interceptions |
13 |
9 |
| Completion Percentage |
72.4 |
63.4 |
| Pass Efficiency |
159.7 |
170.6 |
| Yards Per Attempt |
8.4 |
10 |
| Yards Per Completion |
10.4 |
15.4 |
| Yards Per Game |
363.6 |
377.2 |
| Total TDs |
38 |
47 |
| Total Offense Per Game |
355.8 |
379.9 |
| Total Offense Per Play |
7.95 |
8.98 |
OSU sacks allowed in final two seasons:
Weeden – 22
Rudolph – 56
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Solid point. I’ll counter with bowman put up 35 ppg once he became starter with Dunn as his OC and Dickey as his OL coach. That would be like scoring 35 ppg with Dunn as your OC and Dickey as your OL coach.
Checkmate.
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I want to let it be known that I under no circumstances think bowman is above Mason, or even close. I just like playing devil’s advocate. 
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Truthfully the only negative I can give Mason is 1. We never won anything of significance with him, and 2. He got bailed out by Walsh a handful of times in 2015 games he should have lost.
The most surprising stat here is Yards per Completion. I think our memory tells us that Weeden threw the ball downfield more often, but the numbers don’t back that up.
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Weeden (who was an outstanding quarterback and is definitely the second best quarterback in program history) threw slant routes to the greatest receiver college football has ever seen.
Rudy threw nukes
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Mason lost at HOME to:
6-loss Central Michigan
5-loss Kansas State
3-loss TCU
and lost AT 6-loss Baylor. The BW3 defense rests.
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Carson has been typing for a while. Thinking about logging off because I’m scared.
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Central Michigan loss didn’t actually happen
Put up 40 points in the K-State loss.
With OSU driving late against TCU, someone had the bright idea to have Jalen McCleskey throw a pass (it was intercepted)
The OSU defense let Seth Russell (!!!) throw for 387 yards and four TDs.
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