Mayfield, a former walk-on, a landslide winner
NEW YORK — Baker Mayfield took a unique road to the Heisman Trophy, a long and winding climb from walk-on to one of the most accomplished players to ever play college football.
The brash, flagplanting Sooners star became the sixth Oklahoma player to the win Heisman on Saturday night, and he did so in one of the most lopsided votes in the 83-year history of the award.
Stanford running back Bryce Love was the runner-up, making it five second-place finishes for the Cardinal since 2009. Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson, last year's recipient, was third.
Mayfield received 732 first-place votes and 2,398 points. Love had 75 first-place votes and 1,300 points and Jackson received 47 and 793. Mayfield received 86 percent of the total points available, the third-highest percentage in Heisman history behind Ohio State's Troy Smith (91.63 percent) in 2006 and Oregon's Marcus Mariota (90.92) in 2014.
Mayfield is the first senior to win the award since Smith, and the first Heisman winner to begin his career as a walk-on since athletic scholarships started in the 1950s.
"It has been a tough journey," Mayfield said during his acceptance speech. He choked back tears while thanking his parents and Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley.
Mayfield finished fourth in the Heisman voting two years ago and third last year.
"It's motivating for me to be the best in the country," he said.
He entered this season as one of the favorites and jumped toward the front of the pack when he led the Sooners to an early victory at Ohio State that he celebrated by planting the OU flag in the Horseshoe turf.
He later apologized for that, but that has been Mayfield's career. Spectacular play fueled by grudges, slights and trying to prove doubters wrong. At times, poor judgment has gotten him into trouble on and off the field.
Those were really the only marks on Mayfield's Heisman resume because his play has been consistently stellar. He has thrown for 4,340 yards and 41 touchdowns this season for the Big 12 champion Sooners (12-1), who play Georgia in a College Football Playoff semifinal in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.
For his career, Mayfield is eighth in FBS history in yards passing (14,320) and sixth in touchdown passes (129).
Pretty good for a scrawny kid who grew up in Austin, Texas, rooting for Oklahoma, but did not receive a scholarship offer out of high school from either the hometown Longhorns or his beloved Sooners. He received one offer from a Power Five program — Washington State.
After walking on at Texas Tech, he later transferred to — then starred for — Oklahoma.