Oklahoma State's Mason Rudolph hangs 423 yards and 5 TDs on Pitt ... in the first half

Sam Cooper
·College football writer

If you had any doubts about Oklahoma State and its high-powered offense, all you had to do was watch its first half performance on the road against Pittsburgh.

The Cowboys stormed out to a 49-14 lead at Heinz Field behind a whopping 423 yards and five touchdown passes from Heisman candidate QB Mason Rudolph. Rudolph completed 20-of-28 passes in the half with touchdowns of 54, 69, 8, 40 and 48 yards. Jalen McClesky was his favorite target, accounting for seven receptions for 162 yards and three of those touchdowns.

A 69-yarder to Marcel Ateman showed Rudolph’s escapability.

The Cowboys did all of that on 46 plays, averaging 11.2 yards per play. This is against a Pittsburgh defense that looked pretty solid against Penn State last weekend. Granted, that came in a 33-12 loss, but the Panthers allowed only 312 yards to the explosive Nittany Lions. Rudolph raced past that total alone — in just one half.

Aside from a kneel down that ended the half, OSU scored on every drive and the longest of those drives was just 3:16.

Rudolph finished the game 23-of-32 for 497 yards, five touchdowns and one interception before being taken out of the game in the third quarter. The Cowboys, now 3-0 on the year, finished the game with 676 yards of offense in an eventual 59-21 win.

Oklahoma State QB Mason Rudolph celebrates after a touchdown during the first quarter against the Pittsburgh Panthers. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
Oklahoma State QB Mason Rudolph celebrates after a touchdown during the first quarter against the Pittsburgh Panthers. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)

There was a bit of skepticism that Oklahoma State could keep up the offensive pace it put up in its first two wins over lower-level teams. Against their first Power Five opponent of the season, the Cowboys performed at an even higher level offensively.

Through three games, Oklahoma State’s offense has put up 1,821 yards and 162 points. Rudolph, in about seven quarters, has thrown for 1,135 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Look out, Big 12.

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!