By Patrick Belanger
Honestly, who doesn’t love Baker Mayfield? Well, besides Ohio State fans and any people that are fans of the other nine teams in the Big 12. Seriously though, this guy is amazing and continues to perform at a high-level week after week. Mayfield has proven himself to be one of the most electric players in college football. But is he good enough to win the Heisman?
I’m obviously a big fan of Penn State and would love to see Saquon Barkley walk on the stage on December 9th to accept the award. However, I would be really pleased if Baker Mayfield could win it instead. The latest poll gave Mayfield 0 first place votes for the Heisman. Personally, I think that’s absurd and he deserves to win the award just as much as Barkley and Love. The Heisman Trophy is typically a quarterback’s award, but this year it seems that the running backs are running the floor.
Baker Mayfield is the leader of one of the nation’s most prolific offenses. Oklahoma puts up 8.45 yards per play, which is the highest in the Division 1 FBS. The Sooners are also third in total yards with 4072. This Oklahoma team is something special, with only one loss on the year to a very good Iowa State team. They have the shot to play for the Big 12 title if they win out and Oklahoma State has a loss. None of this would be possible if they did not have Baker Mayfield.
My dad always said that the “MVP” was someone that if you took them off the team, their team is significantly worse, because he makes them that much better. In this case for the Heisman, the Sooners would be much worse if they did not have Baker Mayfield at the helm. Mayfield leads the FBS in yards per attempt with 11.6 and QBR with a rating of 200.4. He also has 22 total touchdowns, 19 passing and 3 rushing. He only has 2 interceptions this year, which is crazy for how much the Sooners throw the ball. That puts his completion percentage at 73.8%, which is second in the FBS. All of his stats put him in the top 10 for quarterbacks, making him one of the nation’s best quarterbacks.
I think Mayfield will definitely receive a few first place votes when the final Heisman ballot comes out. He has certainly proved through his stats and gameplay that he is talented and deserves recognition for what he has done. The past two years, he has brought his team to a College Football Playoff birth. Although Oklahoma may not be having the same season as they have had in the past, they still are one of the best teams in the country, mainly because of Baker Mayfield. Now, he may not win it because of the talented running backs he is up against, but he still deserves to be in New York on December 9th and could quite possibly win the award.