Spencer Sanders’ Night Compares Well to Other OSU Quarterback Debuts

If a freshman quarterback is good enough to start a game at Oklahoma State, odds are that guy is pretty good at football.

In the Cowboys’ 52-36 victory against Oregon State Friday night/Saturday morning in Corvallis, Spencer Sanders became the fourth freshman gunslinger to start a game at Oklahoma State is the past 10 seasons.

The Beavers’ defense didn’t put up the biggest fight, but Sanders was undeniably electric. He finished his first game of college football with 312 total yards, a 79-percent completion percentage and three scores.

Here are Sanders’ passing numbers compared to the other three freshmen to start games at OSU in the past 10 seasons.

To start, it’s notable that J.W. Walsh had already played in three games before drawing his first start. Of that group, Sanders and Wes Lunt won their starts, as OSU throttled Savannah State 84-0 in the 2012 season opener.

Sanders and Walsh were redshirt freshmen, whereas Mason Rudolph and Lunt were true freshmen. Sanders was more dynamic on his feet than those other three in his first start. His 109 rushing yards were 52 more than what Walsh had.

Now here is a look at Sanders’ numbers compared to the first start numbers of the top quarterbacks of the Mike Gundy era:

Sanders numbers probably most closely correlate with Brandon Weeden’s. Interestingly enough, Weeden’s first start was also against a Pac-12 opponent in Washington State. Weeden and the Cowboys thumbed the Cougars 65-17. Rudolph and Robinson each lost their first start, with Robinson’s coming against Troy.

There is obviously a lot more that goes into getting these numbers, and this early in Sanders’ career, these aren’t more than numbers on a chart. Through one game, however, Sanders put himself in elite company.

Mike Gundy has had big arms and good runners leading his offense, but Sanders brings both of those. Weeden, Rudolph and Lunt sure weren’t doing this:

And I don’t recall Robinson or Walsh making throws like this in their first starts: