Oklahoma State Football: Mason Rudolph Likely to Play in Sugar Bowl

The Oklahoma State football team will likely have their starting quarterback when they travel to New Orleans.

According to the Tulsa World’s Bill Haisten, Cowboys quarterback Mason Rudolph will likely be on the field for the Cowboys’ matchup against Ole Miss in the 2016 Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day. Rudolph had surgery on a broken bone in his foot last week.

“I’m confident (that Rudolph will start in the bowl game). I feel pretty good about it,” Gundy told the Tulsa World. “He doesn’t have as severe an injury as a lot of guys (who have comparable injuries).

“I think he’ll be practicing in two weeks. He’ll have to (focus on) conditioning over the next 10 days. One thing is, he doesn’t have to have a lot of conditioning at the position he’s playing.”

Rudolph didn’t have a very satisfactory ending to the 2015 regular season. After sustaining the injury during the Poke’s loss to Baylor back on Nov. 21, the sophomore signal-caller made only a brief appearance the following week in the Bedlam game, going 0-3 with a pick-six. Rudolph’s injury put a damper on what had been one of the best single seasons for a quarterback at Oklahoma State, as he passed for 3,591 yards, 21 touchdowns, and nine interceptions despite yielding a significant amount of playing time to senior backup J.W. Walsh in redzone situations.

“I think (Rudolph) will rally enough where he can practice in a couple of weeks,” Gundy said. “We have J.W., and he’ll practice hard and practice well, and we’ll try to keep the same (routine) we’ve had all year.”

Related: Cowboys to Take on Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl

Walsh had a decent outing against OU, but the Cowboys’ offense was clearly limited without Rudolph’s ability to stretch the field and convert big third downs. Still, Gundy will look again to Walsh if Rudolph isn’t able to go.

“If it gets to the last week before the game (and Rudolph isn’t ready), then we go on down the road.”

Should Rudolph make the start, it will certainly make for a great quarterback matchup against Ole Miss. Rebels quarterback Chad Kelly, who is the nephew of former NFL great Jim Kelly, threw for 3,740 yards, 27 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions on the season while leading his team to a 9-3 record, which included wins over Alabama and LSU.