Mason Rudolph’s Heisman Campaign Hits Snag Against TCU

Mason Rudolph’s Heisman campaign hit a bit of a snag on Saturday when TCU marched into Stillwater with a No. 16 national ranking and, just one day later, moved up to No. 9 after a thorough shellacking of the sixth-ranked Cowboys in Boone’s palace.

By most standards, Rudolph had a Rudolph-like stat line despite the loss: 22-of-41 through the air, 398 yards and 2 TDs. But unlike the Rudolph we’ve grown accustomed to, he got out of his world a few too many times which resulted in two costly INT’s and a fumble.

Rudolph’s performance in the loss wasn’t back-breaking for his Heisman hopes, but it does put him behind the eight ball. Unlike Sam Darnold, who has thrown for 7 INTs but has the West Coast media pumping him to be a mix of Tony Romo and Jesus, Rudolph isn’t playing for a national brand. Regardless of your thoughts on where OSU stands nationally, prognosticators aren’t going to give the Cowboys — nor Rudolph, for that matter — any benefit of the doubt. They’ll have to earn it by climbing the polls and contending for the conference.

That means a Big 12-opening loss, even against a team now in the top-10 of the rankings, puts both OSU in a tough spot, as well as Rudolph and his Heisman hopes. A week after being a co-favorite to win the award, he now enters Week 5 tied for the third-best odds according to odds from Bovada, tied with Darnold and incumbent winner Lamar Jackson on the list.

So that’s not a free fall, but it’s not an improvement. But here’s the upshot: Mason Rudolph is still putting up gaudy numbers in this offense, and Oklahoma State is still very much a Big 12 title contender — even with a goose egg in the conference win column.

Stack Rudolph’s numbers up with the best of the best at his position nationally, and he measures favorably with them all. Oh, and his 17.03 yards per completion is second nationally behind Baker Mayfield, who boasts a 17.48 average.

So Rudolph’s Heisman campaign is far from over. Sure, he missed an opportunity to make a statement on Saturday for his case to win the September Heisman, but fortunately for him, the award is given after the regular season. That means he has ample opportunities remaining, starting with Texas Tech on Saturday.

All he’s got to do is just win, baby, and he can easily earn more favor in the eyes of Heisman voters who saw him struggle in his first taste of Big 12 competition.