All Baker Mayfield did on Saturday was will his team to victory over a good Kansas State team that plays even better when its at home.
That’s something that the fifth-year senior quarterback seemingly does every week, you say. I can’t argue with that point, but the game on Saturday was a little different. Mayfield is playing injured with a still-painful shoulder he suffered from a hit he took in the game with Texas.
OU head coach Lincoln Riley said in his regular weekly press conference on Monday that backup QB Kyler Murray was given several snaps and the Sooners lined up in the wildcat formation, shifting Mayfield out in the flat, on a couple of goal-line plays because Mayfield’s shoulder was still bothering him from the week before.
Mayfield’s performance on Saturday was impressive enough at face value, bringing the Sooners all the way back from what was once a 21-7 deficit and leading them to a 42-35 victory at a place where Oklahoma seems to have the best road success of anywhere in the Big 12. The fact that he did so while playing with an injured shoulder, makes his numbers at K-State that much more special.
The two-time Heisman Trophy finalist may be close to earning a third consecutive trip to the Heisman presentation ceremony in New York City. Mayfield threw two touchdown passes and ran the ball in for a couple more in contributing 479 of Oklahoma’s 619 yards of total offense in the victory over Kansas State. Those 479 yards are the third most in his career and the seventh most by an OU player in a single game in school history.
Bad shoulder and all, Mayfield completed a career-high 32 of 41 passes against Kansas State, and with his team trailing 21-20 to begin the fourth quarter, he led the Sooners on scoring drives of 93, 74 and 76 yards.
Mayfield leads the nation in passing efficiency with a rating of 200.4 through seven games. He set a new NCAA single-season record in that category a year ago with an efficiency rating of 196.4.
This is the third time that Mayfield has been honored as the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week in 2017. That ties him with Samaje Perine (2014) Adrian Peterson (2004) and Quentin Griffin (2002) for the most Player of the Week awards in one season. He has received the honor five times in his OU career, tying him with Peterson and Perine for second most in school history. Former OU quarterback Landry Jones won the award eight times in his career.