Cornelius Becomes 7th Cowboy to Throw for 400 Yards in a Game

There are a lot of opinions about Taylor Cornelius, but Saturday he did what only six quarterback’s in Oklahoma State’s history have done before: throw for at least 400 yards in a game.

Cornelius’s 428-yard performance against South Alabama was the 16th most passing yards any OSU quarterback has had in a game. He completed 25 of his 40 passes and threw a touchdown and two interceptions.

Cornelius joins Mike Gundy, Mason Rudolph, Brandon Weeden, Zac Robinson, Wes Lunt and Bobby Reid as Cowboy quarterbacks who have thrown for more than 400 yards in a game.

Of that list only Rudolph and Weeden have thrown for more than 400 yards more than once. Rudolph accumulated 10 400-yard performances in his time at OSU, edging out Weeden’s seven. Rudolph also has the most in a season, as he threw for at least 400 yards five times in 2017.

Lunt’s 436-yard performance came against Arizona in 2012. Lunt, then a freshman, threw for a school record 60 times in that game. Weeden also has a share of that record, as he threw 60 passes against Texas A&M in 2011 where he threw for 438 yards. Cornelius’ 40 attempts isn’t in the Top 10 of OSU’s record book.

Cornelius was only a yard off his coach’s personal best, as Gundy threw for 429 yards against Kansas as a senior in 1989.

Since the turn of the century, Cornelius is OSU’s only quarterback to throw for 400 yards but have more interceptions than touchdowns. (Kyle Cox and I went on a goose chase this morning trying to find out whether Gundy threw more interceptions than touchdown’s in his 400-yard game. We found that he completed 27 of his 35 passes and had two passing touchdowns, but there was no mention of whether he threw any interceptions). Weeden came close a few times, throwing one touchdown and one pick against Texas in 2010 and three touchdowns and three picks against Iowa State in 2011, but no one apart from Cornelius has gone in the negative.

Cornelius’ game was the third 400-yard passing performance that came against a school that isn’t in a Power Five conference.

Here’s a look at all the 400-yard games in OSU’s history: