Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield is the Playoff’s best underdog story

There are a lot of underdog stories in this year’s College Football Playoff, from Michigan State’s roster of unheralded recruits to Alabama quarterback Jake Coker leading the Crimson Tide to the Playoff after being passed up at Florida State. But perhaps the craziest story of all is that of Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield. The No. 4 finisher in this year’s Heisman Trophy voting was a walk-on to start his college career.

At this time three years ago, nobody thought Mayfield could be a Playoff-caliber quarterback. This year’s Playoff teams certainly thought that way. Mayfield was the 40th-ranked pro-style quarterback in the 2013 class, and the 69th-ranked quarterback overall, according to the 247Sports composite ratings.

Oklahoma took eighth-ranked pro-style quarterback Cody Thomas over Mayfield. Texas Tech, where Mayfield chose to walk on, took 25th-ranked Davis Webb that year. Fellow Playoff participant Alabama took three quarterbacks ranked higher than Mayfield in 2013.

Perhaps the biggest reason teams weren’t high on Mayfield is they didn’t know what he was. ESPN, which ranked him as the 69th-best quarterback in the country and gave him a low grade of 70 coming out of high school, listed his best traits as arm strength, reads and delivery.

He is a fairly efficient passer and is at his best when on time and anticipating the throw. Gets rid of the ball in a timely fashion with a catchable ball. We like his ability to drop and set up quickly, shows nimble feet with the ability slide and avoid pressure while keeping the play alive.

Mayfield appears to be poised, tough and under control. We are not sure any of Mayfield’s traits are elite or unique.

Really, what likely bothered recruiters is that Mayfield has, as ESPN put it, “just adequate” size. He didn’t look elite or unique based on that alone. And that might be true if he was forced into a box. Mayfield doesn’t fit a lot of systems — he’s not a pure runner, and he doesn’t like just throwing in the pocket. So Oklahoma settled on a novel concept: just let him do what he did in high school, as explained by Ian Boyd.

In high school, Mayfield was a good decision maker and a quick, tough runner in the QB option game. He had the arm strength to make all the necessary throws on vertical and horizontal stretch concepts and the ability to combine his legs, arm and vision to buy time.

If that sounds like the generously listed 6’1 player you’ve been watching at Oklahoma this season, well, it is!

In fact, Mayfield does a lot of what the recruiting services said he was good at in high school. Efficient? He’s second nationally with 9.6 yards per attempt, and he’s sixth nationally with a 68.6 percent completion percentage. Arm strength? He’s second nationally with six passes of 60-plus yards and first with four passes of 70-plus yards.

But it’s the reads, combined with Mayfield’s athleticism, that set him apart. If he were in a different system, he would only be able to showcase some of his reads in the passing game — the reads recruiters were likely judging him on. But in Riley’s spread option system, he adds his own rushing ability to the fold, giving defenses yet another dimension to have to to stop. Not only can he extend plays, but he has seven rushing touchdowns of his own.

Playing against Oklahoma doesn’t just mean lining up and stopping the Sooners and Mayfield’s arm. It means:

Mayfield isn’t Mayfield if he isn’t allowed to do all of those things. But in Oklahoma’s wide-open system he is, and that’s why he’s the Playoff quarterback many people never thought he could be.