A year ago, Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting. He is having an even better year in 2016, but his name is hardly mentioned.
Why is that?
In his first four games this season, Mayfield exceeded 300 yards passing in just one game along with a combined nine touchdown passes. Since then, however, the redshirt junior quarterback has been on fire.
Mayfield has failed to throw for fewer than 300 yards just once in his last five games, topped by a 545-yard passing effort against Texas Tech that included a career-high and school-record seven touchdowns.
He has thrown three touchdown passes in each of the last five games and at least four in the Sooners’ last four games. Nine of his touchdown passes have been 65 yards or longer, the most among FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) teams this season.
For the season, the two-year Oklahoma starter at quarterback has thrown for 2,912 yards and 31 touchdowns in nine games, with six interceptions. Mayfield’s 31 TD passes is second-best in the country, as is his 194.8 passing efficiency rating, and he is No. 3 among FBS quarterbacks with a 71.2 percent completion percentage.
Louisville’s Lamar Jackson is universally considered the front runner in this year’s Heisman race. His passing numbers are below Mayfield’s, but the Louisville sophomore has amassed nearly 1,000 yards rushing to go with 2,753 passing yards and 22 touchdowns through the air. He also has 16 rushing touchdowns.
Among FBS quarterbacks, however, only a pair of signal callers from the state of Washington – Jake Browning of Washington and Luke Falk of Washington State – can boast better passing stats that Mayfield’s through nine games, but not in all categories.
Browning has led the Washington Huskies to a perfect 9-0 record in the Pac-12 and a likely top-four ranking in this week’s College Football Playoff standings. His 202.8 passing efficiency ranking and 34 touchdown passes top Mayfield, but the Oklahoma quarterback’s numbers are better in passing yards and yards per completion.
Washington State, coached by former Big 12 head coach at Texas Tech and Oklahoma offensive coordinator Mike Leach, has shown great gains in the win column this season (7-2 overall), mostly behind the stellar quarterback play of Falk.
Falk leads the country with a 74-percent completion percentage and trails only Patrick Mahomes of Texas Tech in passing yards (3,237). Falk’s other numbers are comparable to Mayfield, except for passing efficiency, which is 40 points lower than the Sooner quarterback.
Two quarterbacks who have been in the headlines all seasons, largely the result of the success and high national ranking enjoyed by the teams they play for, are Deshaun Watson of Clemson and J.T. Barrett of Ohio State, which beat Oklahoma handily, and in Norman, earlier this season.
Watson has been on the Heisman watch list all season, and Barrett was there in the early part of the season, and especially after leading the beatdown over the Sooners. But the truth is, the only advantage they hold over Mayfield statistically is in the won-lost column.
The point of all this is to say that Mayfield is playing as well as any quarterback in the country right now and has earned at least having his name mentioned in the Heisman conversation.
The Sooner quarterback and team leader won’t win the Heisman this year – that pretty much is locked up at this point by Louisville’s Jackson – and probably won’t be making the trip to New York as one of the 2016 finalists, but he certainly deserves to be considered and talked about as a legitimate candidate for college football’s biggest individual honor.
If the Heisman were awarded for passion, gutsy play and the tenacity and unrelenting will to win, Mayfield, twice a college football walk-on, would unquestionably be right there among the nation’s very best. His numbers on the field would just reinforce it.