Sooner Football: Five Takeaways From Oklahoma’s Victory Over Baylor

Nov 14, 2015; Waco, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) runs for a touchdown against the Baylor Bears during the first half at McLane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Baker Mayfield Is a Serious Heisman Contender

Heaping praise on Baker Mayfield is becoming repetitive, but no analysis of an OU victory can be complete without pointing out Mayfield’s continuing heroics. Saturday night’s victory was another great outing for the Sooner signal caller, who threw for 270 yards and three TDs and rushed for 76 yards and one TD.

Better yet, Mayfield continued to show a magician’s propensity for buying time with his feet, improvising and extending plays. Case in point: Late in the fourth quarter with OU in the red zone, Baylor’s defense flushed Mayfield out of the pocket. Rather than throwing the ball away or taking a sack, Mayfield scrambled, bought time and ultimately found Dimitri Flowers in the end-zone for what would prove to be the final dagger that quelled all hopes of a Baylor comeback.

And speaking of scrambling, it’s virtually certain that Bob Stoops and the coaching staff suffer minor heart attacks whenever Mayfield takes off running. If there is one area for quibbling over Mayfield’s game, it’s on his tendency to run and fight for every last yard.

It is now time to include Baker Mayfield in the Heisman conversation; in fact, during the prime-time TV broadcast, ESPN’s Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit pointed out that through nine games, Mayfield’s stats compare quite well to OU’s two other Heisman winning QBs, Jason White and Sam Bradford. If winning in Waco, in a hostile environment against a team that has owned the Sooners the last couple of years doesn’t boost Mayfield’s Heisman candidacy, nothing short of walking on water will.

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