How Baker Mayfield stacks up to other Oklahoma Heisman winners
With his Heisman landslide Saturday night, Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield became the sixth Sooner in school history to win the prestigious trophy and get a statue in Oklahoma’s Heisman Park.
Mayfield joins Sam Bradford, Steve Owens, Billy Sims, Billy Vessels and Jason White as OU winners — only Notre Dame and Ohio State (7) have had more players win the award. Here’s how Mayfield compares to the five players that won the award before him.
RB Billy Vessels, 1952
Thanks to the regionalism of college football, Vessels was one of nine players who received 25 or more first place votes. Vessels edged out Maryland QB Jack Scarbath and Minnesota RB Paul Giel for the award, getting 98 first-place votes to Scarbath’s 70 and Giel’s 76.
Vessels had 1,072 yards and 17 touchdowns on 167 carries. Oklahoma finished the season 8-1-1 and No. 4 in the final AP poll. The tie came against Colorado to open the season and the team’s loss was at Notre Dame. The Sooners did not go to a bowl game.
FB Steve Owens, 1969
Oewns beat Purdue QB Mike Phipps for the award. The guy who finished fourth was a junior quarterback from Ole Miss named Archie Manning. We heard his kids went on to do some cool things.
Owens had 1,523 yards and 23 touchdowns on 358 carries for the Sooners, who went 6-4 under coach Chuck Fairbanks. OU opened the season at No. 6 in the country but fell out of the top 25 after losses to Texas, Kansas State and Missouri in the span of six weeks.
RB Billy Sims, 1978
Sims won the award over Penn State quarterback Chuck Fusina, who had 750 points to Sims’ 827. Fusina actually got more first place votes (163) than Sims (151), but Sims’ edge in second-place votes (152 to 89) was the deciding factor.
Sims racked up 1.762 yards and 20 touchdowns on 231 carries. That’s an average of 7.6 yards per carry. The Sooners finished the season 11-1 and at No. 4 in the AP poll. Sims was the catalyst of an offensive attack that averaged 39 points a game, the most of anyone that season. OU ended the season with a 31-24 win against Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.
QB Jason White, 2003
White was Oklahoma’s first Heisman winner in 25 years and beat out Pitt receiver Larry Fitzgerald for the award. White was 278-451 passing for 3,846 yards, 40 touchdowns and 10 interceptions as a junior.
Oklahoma finished the season 12-2 and at No. 3 in the final AP poll after losing 21-14 to LSU in the Sugar Bowl, which was the BCS Championship Game that season.
White came back for his senior year and finished third in the voting behind USC QB Matt Leonard and a freshman running back by the name of Adrian Peterson, who rushed for 1,925 yards and 15 touchdowns as Oklahoma lost the BCS Championship Game once again, this time to USC.
QB Sam Bradford, 2008
Bradford beat a fellow Big 12 quarterback in Texas QB Colt McCoy and defending Heisman winner Tim Tebow to win the award in 2008. The redshirt sophomore was 328-483 passing for 4,720 yards, 50 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Florida QB Tebow finished third but had more first-place votes (309) than either Bradford (300) or McCoy (266). But Bradford had the most second-place votes of the three, which gave him the edge.
Bradford was the maestro of an offense that scored 51 points a game and scored more than 60 points in five-straight games to end the season, including a 62-21 win over Missouri in the Big 12 title game.
Tebow got his Heisman revenge in the BCS Championship over Bradford, as the Gators beat the Sooners 24-14.
QB Baker Mayfield, 2017
Mayfield easily beat Stanford RB Bryce Love and Louisville QB Lamar Jackson, the defending Heisman winner, to become the fifth trophy-holder in Oklahoma history.
The former Texas Tech quarterback took over from Trevor Knight (who later transferred to Texas A&M) and immediately became one of the best quarterbacks in the country. Through 13 games in 2017, Mayfield is 262-369 passing for 4,340 yards, 41 touchdowns and five interceptions. While Bradford threw for more yardage in 2008, he did so by throwing 114 more passes than Mayfield has at this point.
No. 2 Oklahoma, 12-1, plays No. 3 Georgia in the College Football Playoff on Jan. 1. With wins over Georgia and the winner of Clemson/Alabama, Mayfield can become the only Heisman winner in school history to be a national champion. There’s already a strong case he’s the best quarterback in Oklahoma history. It’ll be a rock-solid one if the Sooners are the national champions.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
