Oklahoma football: Breaking down another Bedlam victory
By Chip Rouse
In football terms the name Baker Mayfield translates to “winning”
There is little question that Baker Mayfield is a winner. He wills himself and his teammates to win games, and this season that means victories in at least five games that without Mayfield at quarterback the Sooners probably would have lost. Just think, instead of sitting at 5-1 in the Big 12 and 8-1 overall, Oklahoma could just as easily have been 1-5 in the Big 12 and 3-6 through nine games.
That is not a very endearing thought, but it is reality. Mayfield is 30-5 as the starting quarterback at Oklahoma, and he has been even better on the road than he has been at home in Norman. The two-time Heisman finalist and the player who at present is being touted as the front runner for this season’s Heisman Trophy, has not lost a true road game since he has been at Oklahoma. That’s 13 of them, if you are counting.
Oklahoma is not a complete team, sorry to say. As currently constructed, the Sooners are a very good team, for sure, but fall short of being considered a great team, largely because of the season-long problems they have had on defense.
Whenever you have the country’s most prolific offense and that offense is commandeered by the country’s best quarterback, however, you have a better than good chance of winning every game you play. That is the case with the Sooners this season – because of the leadership, talent and experience of Baker Mayfield.
The fifth-year senior quarterback wasn’t at his very best in Bedlam on Saturday (he threw two interceptions and was sacked five times), but Mayfield’s bar is very high. He still managed to throw for a school-record 598 yards (387 in the first half) and five touchdowns and averaged an extraordinary 24.9 yards per completion.
Mayfield is now a perfect 3-0 in Bedlam games, and the Sooners have outscored Oklahoma State by a combined score of 158-95 in those three victories.