STILLWATER, Okla. -- Mason Rudolph had one of the best statistical games ever for an Oklahoma State quarterback, but Coach Mike Gundy was more interested in how much more damage his quarterback could have done.
Rudolph passed for a career-high 401 yards to help Oklahoma State defeat Central Arkansas 32-8 on Saturday night. He completed 23 of 35 passes and connected with 11 receivers. It was the third-highest yardage total ever for a Cowboys sophomore and just the 13th 400-yard passing game in school history.
"It was good, could have been much better," Gundy said. "I thought he missed at least five throws that he normally hits, particularly in the boundary, but he did come back and hit a lot of deep throws.
"He's still young. He's playing in his fifth game, so he's making some mistakes. He needs to be better, but he's making some key throws."
Rudolph became the first Oklahoma State quarterback since 2012 to pass for more than 400 yards in a game. He had two touchdown passes in his first career home game.
David Glidden caught 4 passes for a career-high 145 yards and 2 touchdowns.
"It was just one of those deals where a couple of spots opened for us tonight, a couple of big plays, that hit," Glidden said. "He put the ball on the money and things just worked out for us."
The Cowboys (2-0) finished with 576 total yards, but they rushed 21 times for just 73 yards in the first three quarters before padding their stats with 14 carries for 91 yards in the fourth.
Taylor Reed completed 14 of 25 passes for 128 yards and 1 touchdown for the Bears (0-2), who were held to 220 total yards, including 92 yards rushing on 39 attempts. UCA gained 134 yards in the second half.
"They're a good defense," Central Arkansas Coach Steve Campbell said. "We tip our hats off to them. We knew they were a good football team and we were going to have to play a really good ballgame."
It was the second consecutive defensive collapse for UCA, a Football Championship Subdivision program. The Bears gave up 536 yards last week in a 45-16 loss to Samford, but Campbell said he was more pleased with his team's effort against Oklahoma State.
"We played a lot harder tonight. We gave great effort," Campbell said. "I'm very proud of the guys' effort. You're obviously disappointed any time you come up short, but now we have two games under our belt and we have an open week before we open conference.
"I like the direction we're headed in. We have a long way to go, but I like where we're headed."
The Bears managed just 86 total yards of offense in the first half but trailed only 10-0. The Cowboys had 252 yards, but the Bears kept them relatively in check, thanks in part to a second-quarter interception by sophomore cornerback Tremon Smith and five tackles each by George Odum and Devin Spurlock.
"They gave us a chance," Campbell said of his defense. "It was 17-8 midway through the third quarter. If we could have put something together there, and we had a couple of chances, maybe it could have been different."
Sports on 09/13/2015