Oklahoma’s Mayfield wins Heisman Trophy

NEW YORK — A year ago, Baker Mayfield headed to New York with a chance to win the Heisman Trophy and finished third.

This time, the Oklahoma senior quarterback was the runaway winner.

Mayfield was a consensus favorite to win the Heisman and those projections proved accurate Saturday night when he became the sixth Oklahoma player to win the award.

Last year, Mayfield placed third with 361 points and lost to eventual winner — Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson — and finished behind Clemson’s DeShaun Watson. This year, he received 732 first-place votes and 2,398 points to beat Stanford running back Bryce Love and Jackson.

Mayfield’s win was solidified with the moments he enjoyed in big performances during victories over Ohio State, Texas, Oklahoma State and twice over TCU. Those showings helped the Sooners get the No. 2 seed in their second appearance in the College Football Playoff.

Of course, those were slightly overshadowed by Mayfield planting the Sooner flag at midfield after winning at Ohio State and him taunting Kansas fans last month.

Ultimately when it came time to decide the Heisman, numbers won out for Mayfield, whose career began as a walk-on at Texas Tech.

This season, Mayfield completed 262 of 369 passes for 4,340 yards, with 41 touchdowns and five interceptions. He led the nation in passing efficiency at 203.8, which is ahead of the FBS-record 196.4 mark he posted last season.

Mayfield became the third Sooners quarterback to win in the last 15 seasons. Jason White won in 2003 and Sam Bradford won it five years later.

He also continued a recent trend of signal-callers to win the award. Mayfield became the 14th quarterback to win in the last 17 years, though he was the first senior to win since Ohio State’s Troy Smith in 2006.

Love was bidding to become the second running back to win in three years but could not join former Alabama running back Derrick Henry (2015). Love, who rushed for 1,973 yards despite being hampered by a high ankle sprain late in the season, finished with 75 first-place votes and 1,300 points.

Jackson was trying to join Ohio State running back Archie Griffin (1974 and 1975) as the second repeat winner of the award. The junior actually finished with better numbers than last season, but Jackson ended up with 47 first-place votes and 793 points.

Nine players received first-place votes, including Penn State running back Saquon Barkley. Barkley finished fourth with 15 first-place votes and 304 points.