The 2017 season was as close as the Oklahoma Sooners have come to reaching a College Football Playoff Championship game. It was as good a team as the Sooners have had since the 2008 team reached the BCS Championship game.
Loaded with talents, headlined by Baker Mayfield, Rodney Anderson, Marquise Brown, CeeDee Lamb and Mark Andrews, the Oklahoma Sooners opened with a 56-7 win over UTEP before rolling into Columbus to beat the Ohio State Buckeyes, 31-16.
Baker Mayfield’s flag plant after the game created a frenzy in college football and was lauded among Sooners fans.
That year, Oklahoma finished third in the nation in scoring average (45.1 ppg), winning shootout after shootout on its way to a Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff berth.
Mayfield became one of the more polarizing players in college football history as a result of the way he carried himself that season. He was the ultimate player you love to have on your team but hate if he’s on the other team. With Mayfield leading the way, Oklahoma’s 2017 squad is among 247Sports most hated teams of all time, coming in at No. 7.
He may have reeked of unrefined arrogance on the field, but Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield backed it up. And won the Heisman Trophy, no less. The way Oklahoma’s record-setting passer carried himself on gamedays made many turn their heads, but he was absolutely a must-watch and the Sooners’ brand of a break-neck pace obliterated four top 10 teams on their way to a College Football Playoff berth. Whether you agreed with his pre-game trash talk, in-game crotch grab or post-game flag planting, Mayfield made you pay attention and did not care what anyone outside the program thought of him. College football’s bad boy in 2017 is now one of the NFL’s top signal callers. – Brad Crawford, 247Sports
The only thing missing from Mayfield and the Sooners’ magical run was a College Football Playoff Championship game appearance.
Mayfield took on a Connor McGregor-like persona before Connor McGregor skyrocketed into stardom and apologized to no one. It was what Oklahoma needed to bounce back from a 2016 season that started with two losses in its first three games.
His Heisman season saw him throw for 4,627 yards, 43 touchdowns, and just six interceptions. It was an incredible year that led to him being selected first overall by the Cleveland Brown in 2018.
Some may not have liked Baker Mayfield, but they can never deny what he accomplished as the quarterback of the Oklahoma Sooners.
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