Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma football: Ranking every Sooners’ starting QB since 1999

By Aaron Gelvin

NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 23: A Ruf/Nek parades the Oklahoma Sooners flag around the field after a touchdown against the TCU Horned Frogs on November 23, 2019 at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. OU held on to win 28-24. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 23: A Ruf/Nek parades the Oklahoma Sooners flag around the field after a touchdown against the TCU Horned Frogs on November 23, 2019 at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. OU held on to win 28-24. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /
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PASADENA, CA – JANUARY 01: Baker Mayfield #6 of the Oklahoma Sooners throws a pass in the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal Game against the Georgia Bulldogs at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CA – JANUARY 01: Baker Mayfield #6 of the Oklahoma Sooners throws a pass in the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal Game against the Georgia Bulldogs at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

No. 1 — Baker Mayfield

Thirteen starts in 2015, 13 Starts in 2016, 13 Starts in 2017

Was there really any question about who would be numero uno on this esteemed list? Mayfield was named the starter prior to the 2015 season, at a time when the program was on a downswing after a disappointing year in 2014.

In just his second game as the starter, Mayfield showed that better days were coming, as he led a furious comeback on the road in Knoxville against Tennessee that ended in a double overtime victory.

Mayfield led the Sooners to Big 12 Championships in all three of his years as the starter, endearing himself to Sooner Nation in the process. You know the story, he was a two-time walk-on who was undersized and unathletic. Nonetheless, he won the job at OU and then proceeded to keep winning with a play style and personality that has been described as: a gunslinger, confident, cocky, swashbuckling, polarizing, galvanizing, etc.

Mayfield was great in 2015, leading OU to the College Football Playoff with impressive wins over Baylor and Oklahoma State and finishing fourth in the Heisman voting. He was better in 2016, as the Sooners bounced back from a couple of early losses to win 10 straight, including a masterful Sugar Bowl triumph over Auburn. Mayfield was third in Heisman voting that year (his teammate DeDe Westbrook finished fourth).

But Baker’s virtuoso was his 2017 season, during which he became Oklahoma’s sixth Heisman Trophy recipient. He threw for over 4,600 yards that year and had 43 touchdown passes with only six interceptions. After losing weapons like Westbrook, Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon to the NFL, Mayfield responded by leading a much younger offense to height never seen before (or maybe since).

The iconic moments from 2017 are too many to list, whether it was the flag plant game against Ohio State, the comeback win while battling an injury against Texas, the game-winning drive against Kansas State or the shootout victory in Bedlam. OU would go to the College Football Playoff once again, where they would lose a heartbreaker against Georgia in two overtimes in the Rose Bowl.

Mayfield would go on to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns and led that long-struggling franchise to its first playoff win since 1994 in 2020. Things have since soured in Cleveland, after the Browns acquired Deshaun Watson, and Mayfield will very likely be playing elsewhere in 2022.

Mayfield’s legacy at OU cannot be understated. He was handed the keys to the offense at a time when the program was at a crossroads. When he left, the team was a well-oiled machine that would be set at quarterback for the next few years. In the process, he became an icon to Sooner fans all over the globe. It’s easy to see why Mayfield stands alone. at the top of this list.

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