Oklahoma State Honoring 2015 Team at October’s Cowboy Football Reunion

It’s hard to believe it, but 10 years ago the quarterback tandem of Mason Rudolph and JW Walsh led the Cowboys to the Sugar Bowl and a 10-win season.

Oklahoma State announced Friday that it will honor the 2015 Cowboys during this year’s Cowboy Football Reunion, which will take place the weekend of Oct. 11 when OSU hosts Houston.

That 2015 squad started the year unranked after going 7-6 in 2014. But the QB tandem of Rudolph and Walsh led the Cowboys to a 10-0 start where they climbed up to No. 4 in the AP Poll. Win No. 9 was the biggest, where No. 5 TCU came to Stillwater and got walloped 49-29. The Cowboys stuffing TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin on a fourth down at the goal line is one of the louder moments in Boone Pickens Stadium that I remember.

After playing just three games as a freshman in 2014 (before the four-game redshirt rule), Rudolph exploded onto the scene, throwing for 3,770 yards and 21 touchdowns to nine interceptions, and that was while sharing time with Walsh, who was used as a red-zone QB. Walsh threw for 787 yards and 13 touchdowns to one interception and led the Cowboys with 13 rushing touchdowns.

Chris Carson was OSU’s leader in rushing yards that season, running for 517 and four touchdowns, while sophomore receiver James Washington led the Pokes with 1,087 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns.

Defensively, Jordan Sterns led the Cowboys with 108 total tackles, but the real story on the defense was Emmanuel Ogbah. Ogbah won the Big 12’s Defensive Player of the Year award after recording 64 tackles, 18 tackles for loss and 13 sacks. He also broke up four passes, forced three fumbles, recovered two fumbles and scored on one of those fumble recoveries. The Cleveland Browns took Ogbah in the second round of the next NFL Draft.

Ogbah was one of eight players on that team who would go on to be drafted, joining Carson, Washington, Rudolph, Marcel Ateman, Vincent Taylor, Tre Flowers and Jordan Brailford.