Six from 6: Baker Mayfield Left a Mark on Texas

Oklahoma legend Baker Mayfield gets his Heisman Trophy statue on Saturday at halftime of the Sooners’ annual spring game. SI Sooners commemorates the event by reliving Mayfield’s six most memorable performances during his three seasons as the OU starter.

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No. 6: That Left a Mark

OU 29, Texas 24

Oct. 14, 2017

Cotton Bowl Stadium, Dallas

Oklahoma stormed to a 20-0 lead in the second quarter, but couldn’t have escaped a grand Texas comeback without the confidence, leadership and accuracy of Baker Mayfield.

Just minutes after Texas rallied to its only lead of the afternoon, 24-23, on Sam Ehlinger’s 8-yard touchdown run, Mayfield and the OU offense took over at the Texas 22-yard line.

He threw over the middle to tight end Mark Andrews for 8 yards, and Rodney Anderson ran for 11 yards to the OU 41.

Then, using an adjustment to the Longhorns’ coverage that had been noticed earlier in the game by Cale Gundy, Mayfield dropped back, faked a handoff to Trey Sermon and delivered a perfect strike to the wide open Andrews down the right sideline for the go-ahead touchdown with 6:53 to play.

The Sooners repped the combo route in practice all week, anticipating Texas’ zone coverage.

“I didn’t expect it to come that wide open,” Andrews said. “Great play call.”

Gundy’s adjustment put Andrews in between the Texas zones on a wheel route from the slot position. The short corner passed him off deep, and the deep safety bit first on Mayfield’s fake, then briefly chased Marquise Brown’s deep post before getting turned around. That left Andrews jogging downfield into the shocked Texas end of the stadium.

Mayfield, an Austin native, finished the day with 302 passing yards and two touchdowns.

“The best player in the country,” Texas coach Tom Herman said.

That’s exactly why Mayfield is getting a statue Saturday.

During the week leading up to the game, Mayfield had been given cause to ponder his ultimate impact at OU. Maybe he had considered a statue in Heisman Park. Maybe he hadn’t.

“You think about the OU-Texas game,” he said, “and you can leave a legacy and really leave your mark in games like these.”

Especially if that mark is a wide open Mark Andrews.