Legend in the making?
OU’s win over K-State is all the more remarkable because Baker Mayfield was playing through an injury.
NORMAN — Baker Mayfield was healthy last week.
Or so we were told. Both the Oklahoma quarterback and his coach said a hit from a 305-pound Texas lineman hadn’t caused any residual effects. They said the pain had been eased by a win over the Longhorns. They said Mayfield was a full go for Kansas State. Except he wasn’t. Instead, Mayfield missed an entire week of practice, and coach Lincoln Riley didn’t know for certain that his starting quarterback would be ready until Thursday or Friday.
“It wasn’t a contact issue,” Riley said Monday during his weekly news conference. “It was one that limited him from throwing during the week . ... I didn’t have any concerns about him as a thrower. It did not limit us in the game. I don’t anticipate it limiting us going forward.”
Even so, the news of his limited practice made what Mayfield did in the 42-35 victory against Kansas State even more incredible.
Four touchdowns, 479 yards of total offense, and a successful two-minute drill to win the game.
“When it comes down to it, it’s just a little injury here and there,” said Mayfield, who earned Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honors for his performance. “It’s football — I’ve said it a million times. You are going to have bumps and bruises. You just have to suck it up and fight through it.”
With an arm that hadn’t gotten much work on the field the week before, Mayfield still connected on 32 of 41 passes for 410 yards and two touchdowns.
He also gained 69 yards on the ground, including one 32-yard burst up the middle on the Sooners’ first drive.
It wasn’t just that Mayfield was running, but how he was running. Even with a shoulder on the mend, Mayfield didn’t try to protect himself by sliding to the ground at the end of his runs. Instead, he dared the Kansas State defenders to pull him down.
He was running with aggression — something he hasn’t done much this season.
By the end of the game, Mayfield was the No. 10-ranked Sooners’ second-leading rusher, averaging 7.7 yards per attempt on nine carries.
“It was different, man,” offensive tackle Orlando Brown said. “Obviously, we all know Bake is an athlete, and normally, when he’s scrambling, he’s scrambling to throw, not so much to run for touchdowns. It’s just kind of been a minute since he’s approached it with that mentality. As an offensive line, we were going to keep him clean this week, understanding what he was going through. We didn’t expect that from him.”
Mayfield’s herculean effort — and strong words at halftime — had a ripple effect up and down the Sooner sideline. If Mayfield could shoulder that much of a load after missing time, surely the rest of the team could step up its efforts, too.
“Seeing Baker play that hard,” defensive end/linebacker Ogbonnia Okoronkwo said, “if it doesn’t inspire you,
why are you playing football? He plays so hard. He brings that energy.”
The performance, and the circumstances that surrounded it, added yet another chapter to the legend of Baker Mayfield.
“It’s pretty remarkable, honestly,” Riley said. “It really is. People should take notice of that and not take it for granted. It’s hard to play at the level he’s playing at. He’s doing
it with a new cast of skill guys. Show me somebody in the country that’s playing better.”
Since walking on at Texas Tech five years ago, Mayfield’s only added to his mystique, transferring from the Red Raiders, unseating a returning starter at Oklahoma, and becoming a Heisman finalist twice.
He still has a couple months left to cement the rest of his college football legacy, but this weekend, he’ll have a final chance to face his former team (7 p.m., ABC/ESPN2), likely adding another couple of pages to his saga in the process.
“Baker’s a superhero,” Okoronkwo said. “Baker’s a guy who even if he had one leg, I know he’d go out there and throw for a hundred passing yards. He’s an incredible player.”