Rudolph and Weeden Make ESPN Top 90 of 2000s QB List, Oklahoma State has faced 28
STILLWATER – ESPN+ recently released their list of the top 90 quarterbacks in college football in the 2000s. It’s impressive that Oklahoma State has had two of those premier and elite signal callers, but maybe even more impressive is how many of those quarterbacks the Cowboys have faced.
Let’s start with the two Cowboys on the list and Brandon Weeden comes in at No. 78. The former pro baseball player had a short two-year stint as the starting quarterback for OSU, but he made it count. The Oklahoma State record under Weeden was 23-3. Weeden threw for 9,260-yards and 75 touchdowns. He completed in his career 70 percent of his attempts. Oklahoma State went 11-2 in 2010 and won the Alamo Bowl 36-10 over Arizona. The next season was truly magical as the Cowboys were 12-1 with a Bedlam win, a Big 12 Championship, and a 41-38 overtime win over Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl. Oklahoma State finished ranked No. 3 in the nation.
Mason Rudolph actually came in ahead of Weeden and was ranked No. 63. Rudolph never won the Big 12 but did beat Oklahoma as a freshman and threw for 13,618-yards with 92 touchdowns. As a leader and winner, Rudolph quarterbacked the Cowboys to a 32-10 record including bowl wins over Washington (Cactus), Colorado (Alamo), and Virginia Tech (Camping World). Rudolph was such a good passer and especially a deep passer. His throws to James Washington were a thing of beauty.
What is really impressive is that Oklahoma State in competition has faced 28 of the top 90 quarterbacks in ESPN’s opinion from this century. Obviously, most of those contests have been against Mike Gundy-coached Oklahoma State teams. Many of them have been against OU legends like Caleb Williams, Baker Mayfield, and Kyler Murray as well as Texas Longhorns like Colt McCoy and Vince Young. Here’s a trivia answer for you. Oklahoma State is a combined 7-0 versus Baylor’s Robert Griffin III and Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahommes. Here is the list and the record against each of these top quarterbacks in order.
No. 1 Baker Mayfield, Texas Tech 1-0 and Oklahoma 0-3
No. 3 Vince Young, Texas 0-3
No. 7 Kyler Murray, Oklahoma 0-1
No. 10 Robert Griffin III, Baylor 4-0
No. 12 Colt McCoy, Texas 0-4
No. 15 Sam Bradford, Oklahoma 0-3
No. 16 Jameis Winston, Florida State 0-1
No. 18 Andrew Luck, Stanford 1-0
No. 23 Caleb Williams, Oklahoma 1-0
No. 24 Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma 1-1
No. 27 Case Keenum, Houston 1-1
No, 28 Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma 0-1
No. 37 Jason White, Oklahoma 2-2
No. 38 Troy Smith, Ohio State 0-1
No. 39 Graham Harrell, Texas Tech 2-2
No. 40 Chase Daniel, Missouri 1-1
No. 44 Landry Jones, Oklahoma 1-2
No. 46 Collin Klein, Kansas State 2-1
No. 50 Eric Crouch, Nebraska 0-2
No. 52 Ei Manning, Mississippi 0-1
No. 64 Patrick Mahomes, Texas Tech 3-0
No. 63 Todd Reesing, Kansas 0-1
No. 67 Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh 1-0
No. 69 Max Duggan, TCU 2-2
No. 75 Brad Smith, Missouri 1-1
No. 77 Geno Smith, West Virginia 1-0
No. 79 Dak Prescott, Mississippi State 1-0
No. 84 Shedeur Sanders, Colorado 0-1
Your totals are Oklahoma State has faced top quarterbacks of this century 61 times with a record of 26-35.
