NORMAN, Okla – After being stripped of team captain duties and starting job due to a lascivious motion and foul language directed at the Kansas team last week, Baker Mayfield eventually took over quarterback duties against the Mountaineers. The senior electrified the crowd one last time in his final home game as a Sooner, completing 14 of 17 passes for 281 yards and three touchdowns. Oklahoma (11-1, 8-1) had 646 yards of total offense and captured their seventh straight win with a 59-31 thrashing of WVU.
Sooner nation showed their love for Mayfield – a former Austin Lake Travis High School star – as he received an animated response when his name was announced for senior day. Mayfield also enjoyed a thunderous cheer as he left Owen Field for the last time.
Heisman Worthy Season
The Austin, Texas native is a legitimate Heisman candidate with talent and capabilities as a quarterback that are beyond reproach. This season, Mayfield has completed 71.4 percent of his passes for 4097 yards with 37 touchdowns and only five interceptions for an overall passer rating of 203.3. The senior added another 245 yards and five scores on the ground.
Maturity and Leadership Questions Loom
It is Mayfield’s apparent inability to control his emotions, often leading to “immature” behavior, that have some worried about his aptitude to be an adroit leader at the professional level. Mayfield is known as a “trash talker” while on the field and his latest transgression against Kansas was caught on national television, to the disgust of many.
Earlier in the year, Mayfield also made news for the wrong reason after he planted the Sooner flag at the center of Ohio State’s home field following a victory over the Buckeyes.
Both times, Mayfield apologized but it is unknown if these lapses in judgement can be avoided by someone that is defined as wearing emotions on his sleeves. The same things that makes him exceptional might also turn out to be an Achilles heel.
What’s Next
Mayfield and the Sooner look to keep their top four national ranking and win streak alive next week when they face the TCU Horned Frogs in the Big 12 title game. OU will seek to defeat TCU for the second time this season.
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