Hot Links: Samaje Perine’s Departure, Baker Mayfield’s Efficiency, and More!

Happy hump day, Sooner fans! The offseason has officially begun for the football program, but there’s still plenty of stuff that can go down in the coming days, weeks and months.

OU Links

• The offseason officially began with a bang yesterday after the news of Samaje Perine’s decision to forego his senior season and head to the NFL. This isn’t a move that cripples the offense next season, but I think he can often be taken for granted. The guy has been money in short-yardage situations over the past few years, and he’s a man who’s been able to carry the load for OU at times. The latter (along with his injury issues) is something that has likely contributed to his decision to head for the pros, and The Oklahoman’s Ryan Aber drills that point home in his article about the subject.
• One thing that was a bit overlooked on Monday night was the fact that Baker Mayfield finished the season with the highest passer rating in FBS history, breaking the record previously set by Russell Wilson. People kind of dismissed this statistic prior to bowl season on account of the Big 12’s bad defenses, but Baker’s ability to carve Auburn definitely validated it.
• Oklahoma’s basketball team struggled down the stretch once again Tuesday evening, allowing a 12-0 TCU run down the stretch to cough up another lead. The collapse is a bit more excusable this time around considering Jordan Woodard’s absence. However, I would like to have seen some mettle from this team. The Sooners have another tough one coming up this weekend at Kansas State, who is actually looking really solid this year despite expectations to the contrary.

Links from Across the Country

• Patrick Mahomes II recently announced that he will not be returning for his senior season at Texas Tech. This news, however, seems less significant (in my opinion) than what his father mentioned about Mack Brown’s recruitment of his son. Yes, it appears that Mack recruited Patrick to play safety at Texas, because of course he did.
• Richard Johnson of SB Nation writes about Alabama and Clemson’s title rematch, stating that it’s the first time it’s truly ever happened in which both teams are ranked 1 and 2 each year.
• ESPN’s Todd Miller has reranked all of the New Years Six teams, and he’s decided to put USC all the way up at No. 3.
• Brian Hamilton of Sports Illustrated has written a good piece on Minnesota’s recent troubles.
• Bobby Bowden recently made an appearance on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike”, and it was... interesting.

“Stick to Sports!”

• Rolling Stone’s Patrick Doyle profiles one of the greatest songwriters of all time. You should give it a read if you’re a big music fan.
• A pilot was apparently kicked off of a plane for passing out drunk in the cockpit at the Calgary International Airport. Don’t read this if you’re getting on a plane today.
• A Gap employee is in hot water after accepting a returned item that was originally sold in the year 2000. If you’ve ever worked in retail, you’ll love this.