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In Mason Rudolph, Spurrier's loss is Oklahoma State's big gain
During the fall of 2013 in the state of South Carolina, something inexplicable was happening that to this day still has no rational explanation as far as anybody can tell.
In a community of around 68,000 called Rock Hill -- a place the locals call "Football City, USA" because somehow the town has produced, per capita, about as many college and pro football players as any major metro on the map -- it was football season as usual.
Rock Hill's Northwestern Trojans were rocking-and-rolling. The squad's senior quarterback -- four-star recruit Mason Rudolph, a 6-foot-4, splendid-looking, pro-style rocket passer -- had the Trojans ranked No. 1 in the state. At the controls of coach Kyle Richardson's Air Raid offense, Rudolph was on his way to racking up 64 touchdown passes, giving him more than 100 in two seasons, and completing 72 percent of his pass attempts. Yet something wasn't right.
About 70 miles due south of Rock Hill is Columbia, where Steve Spurrier -- one of the college game's greatest offensive innovators, and who has coached up a quarterback or two -- was coaching the South Carolina Gamecocks.
"I'd say with it being an in-state school," Rudolph said of considering an offer from South Carolina, "yeah, you'd have to consider it."
Rudolph never got the chance to consider South Carolina because Spurrier never considered Rudolph. Now consider this: Rudolph is the hot-shot sophomore starting quarterback for undefeated, No. 6-ranked Oklahoma State; and Spurrier is five weeks into a hasty midseason retirement, the lack of a dynamic signal-caller certainly being of no small significance.
"Well, your guess is as good as mine," Rudolph told FOX Sports this week when asked why he believes Spurrier steered clear of Rock Hill. "My family was a little baffled with that one. Never kind of figured it out, never have answered it. Obviously, I'm in a great place that I've loved being at these past two years and am excited to be at. Like I said, I couldn't tell you what the deal was there."
Or at North Carolina for that matter, which jumped into his recruiting too late despite his dad, Brett, playing middle linebacker there and practically raising young Mason at Tar Heels football games. With LSU, Ole Miss and Virginia Tech among some of the notable programs that did offer Rudolph a scholarship, he opted to become one of Oklahoma State's rare long-distance recruits.
"I felt like it was a good spot, a great community and a great team," Rudolph said of Oklahoma State. "I'd get a chance to play early in an awesome offensive system to kind of immerse myself in.
"I think it's worked out well."
That depends on the fan base being asked. In Stillwater, Oklahoma, the answer is a resounding yes. The Cowboys are 10-0 with two more wins standing between a Big 12 championship and a potential berth in the College Football Playoff. The first step is getting by No. 10 Baylor on Saturday at T. Boone Pickens Stadium, which will be a welcome place for the Cowboys after last week's 35-31 Houdini act at Iowa State that likely left all of Stillwater's 45,000-some-odd residents without fingernails.
But was there really any doubt Rudolph and Co. would pull it out? Rudolph has won 12 consecutive games going back to his debut late last season when coach Mike Gundy burned his redshirt in Week 11 after an injury to Daxx Garman. Rudolph's lone career blemish is that first start at Baylor, a 49-28 defeat in which he didn't play half bad.
His next start instantly etched him in Oklahoma State lore with an epic fourth-quarter comeback in the Bedlam series on the road at Oklahoma. The Cowboys went on to win their bowl game, and a season that had disappointingly slipped away with a string of losses in October had suddenly refreshed with a 2015 forecast for excitement.
The Cowboys and their quarterback haven't disappointed, living on the edge perhaps more than they'd prefer: Texas' meltdown way back in the Big 12 opener got them to 4-0; then a last-second field goal to beat Kansas State; then overtime over West Virginia to get to 6-0.
Through that stretch, Rudolph -- who mostly amicably yields to senior J.W. Walsh in certain rushing situations -- was good, not great, with nine touchdowns and seven interceptions. But the flashes, and the wins, were coming steadily.
Then starting with a blowout of Kansas just hours after the tragic homecoming parade incident, Rudolph's breakout came fast and furious over those next four games, amassing nine touchdowns and huge plays in passing for more than 1,200 yards with just one interception. A five touchdown, 352-yard performance two weeks ago in a 20-point takedown of TCU promptly introduced Rudolph and the Cowboys to the rest of the country.
"I think he has 10 more whiskers on his chin, because he had three," Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, the man who recruited Rudolph out of Rock Hill, told reporters. "That's a major difference, but I think his ability to see defenses now, recognize coverages and his understanding of our offense and concepts have grown."
Now come the two biggest challenges of the QB's brief college career. Win both, and Rudolph and the Cowboys will win the Big 12 championship and wait to see how a CFP committee that excluded both TCU and Baylor a year ago will weigh those early nail-biters.
"I really don’t care," Rudolph said of the committee's point of view. "I think if we keep winning we’re going to put ourselves in a good position. They can do whatever they want. We’re going to control what we can control."
