Oklahoma football: Ranking the Sooners six Heisman winners
By Chip Rouse
No. 2 – Quarterback Sam Bradford, 2008 Heisman Trophy winner
Sam Bradford was the quarterback of the 2008 Oklahoma team that ended that season as the highest scoring team in NCAA football history (716 points).
His sophomore season (his next to last in an OU uniform), Oklahoma was 12-2 and played Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators for the national championship. The Sooners lost that game, but Bradford beat out Tebow (who had won the Heisman the year before) and Colt McCoy of Texas in one of the closest races in Heisman history.
Bradford was extremely calm and poised in the pocket and best known for his pinpoint accuracy throwing the football. His Heisman-winning season in 2008, he led the nation in passing efficiency and touchdown passes and ranked third nationally in passing yards (4,720). He threw at least four touchdown passes in eight games that season and five in four different games.
Bradford passed for 50 touchdowns his sophomore season at OU and threw only six interceptions. That’s a TD-to-interception ratio of 6.25 to 1, one of the best in college football history.
The Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year in 2008, Bradford elected to return to school for his junior season instead of declare for the NFL Draft. He injured his shoulder in the 2009 season opener against BYU, however, and played in just three games that season. Despite missing most of the 2009 season because of injury, Bradford was still the No. 1 overall pick (of the St. Louis Rams) in the 2010 NFL Draft.