Chuba Hubbard on His Decision to Play in the Texas Bowl

STILLWATER — For a few weeks it looked as if Chuba Hubbard’s outstanding sophomore season would frustratingly end 64 rushing yards short of 2,000, but the superstar tailback isn’t done yet.

Hubbard announced Tuesday that he intends to play in the Texas Bowl, putting to bed any talk that he would skip the event in preparation for the NFL Draft. Hubbard still might enter the draft after running against the Aggies. He said he is still taking the decision on whether to return next season “day by day,” but the Oklahoma State faithful will get to see the Canadian speedster go at least one more time.

“I want to win,” Hubbard said. “I want to win a bowl game. Since I’ve been here, we’ve won the last two, so it’d just be a great way to cap off the season, 9-4 that’s a lot better than last year.”

Hubbard’s 1,936 rushing yards are the most in the country this season. It’s already the second-most any Cowboy has rushed for in a season, but unless he runs for 914 yards on Texas A&M, he won’t catch Barry Sanders’ 1988 season.

Hubbard said there are a lot of things that will weigh into his decision on whether to return to OSU next season. His degree isn’t one of them. Hubbard said he is set to graduate next December, but he plans on getting his degree whether he’s a college or an NFL running back.

Family is an important thing for Hubbard. He said he talked with his family a lot on his decision to play in the Texas Bowl. He said it also did a lot of internal decision making and said he wanted to close this season out the right way.

Step one of Hubbard’s decision-making process is done with, deciding to play in the bowl game, but Hubbard said he isn’t rushing into anything further.

“This decision all depends on what you value in life,” Hubbard said. “If you love college or you have family that’s depending on you, you want to make money. If this and that. There’s a lot of things that factor in. I’ve been here for what, three years now. It’s kinda become a place I’m accustomed to, kinda become my second home. But at the same time, it’s kinda like, my dream’s always been to go to the NFL. There’s a lot of things that weigh into it, though.”