Oklahoma Sooners Football Hot Links: Is Baker Mayfield the early leader in the Heisman race?

Happy Tuesday, Sooner fans! It’s been a wild last few days around Norman, but the buzz feels nice. Before we dive into the meat of the links, first a bit of exciting news. According to the U.S. News & World Report, the University of Oklahoma is rated as a top 50 public university in the country and 97th overall, its highest ranking ever. Not bad, OU.

Now onto the links, where we will see where Mayfield stands in the Heisman race, we’ll take a closer look into how the Sooners pulled off the impressive win against the Buckeyes, and why Adrian Peterson gave Sean Peyton a death stare!

OU Links:

• ESPN has updated its weekly Expert’s Poll and have Baker Mayfield as the leading Heisman Trophy candidate, just ahead of reigning Heisman winner Lamar Jackson from Louisville and UCLA QB Josh Rosen. Mayfield has been playing his best football to start the 2017 season, both on and off the stat sheet. With one of his biggest hurdles now behind him, Mayfield should find himself in New York come December, and if he continues on this same pace, he should be hoisting some coveted hardware.
• Speaking of Mayfield, there’s been a lot of talk about his flag plant at Ohio Stadium. There is a silver lining to all of this, however:

• For all you Xs and Os football junkies, here is an article about how Baker Mayfield executed an intricate game plan to perfection. The nuances in Lincoln Riley’s offense are subtle yet lethal. Just ask Ohio State’s linebackers.
• OU defensive coordinator Mike Stoops talks about how his defense has seen a significant improvement, especially since last season’s record-breaking outing against Texas Tech.
• Not that you need any more proof about Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley’s readiness for this position, but have some more anyway. Coach Riley is pleased with the outcome and the team’s performance last Saturday night against the Buckeyes, but he also understands that it is only the second game of a long season. Mayfield and the rest of the team echo his mentality. It’s an especially great time to be a Sooner, folks.
• After beating Ohio State, Oklahoma has the second best overall odds to reach the playoffs, just behind Alabama.
• If you watched the New Orleans Saints at the Minnesota Vikings last night, you might have caught former Oklahoma RB Adrian Peterson seemingly having a rather contentious discussion with Saints head coach Sean Peyton. Pay attention to Peterson’s expression:

• Peterson has since spoken up and explained the situation:

• On the other side of the Monday Night matchup, former OU QB Sam Bradford played one of his best games ever as a pro. From his precision to his leadership, Bradford looked like one of the top signal callers in the league. It was awesome to watch.

National Links:

• A bit of funny news involving our burnt orange rivals down south, with the Longhorns’ game against the USC Trojans coming up this weekend, it has been discovered that USC vacated their national championship loss from the 2005 season, along with their 12 wins from that season. You’re not doing it right, Trojans.
• Reigning NBA MVP Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook was on ‘The Tonight Show’ with Jimmy Fallon and gave a little insight on his fashion inspiration:

• Westbrook also played Fallon in a game of NBA Jam in a hilarious contest featuring Larry Bird and Rumble, the OKC Thunder mascot:

• The Minnesota Vikings are starting an entirely new offensive line, and the transition has paid immediate dividends. Sooner fans understand just how vital a functioning offensive line is to the success of the offense.

‘Stick to Sports!’:

• Bringing back memories of my childhood when I would play explorer in my backyard, some mummies and some ancient treasure were recently discovered.
• I can hardly believe it’s been 10 years since the first iPhone was released. Depressing thoughts aside, Apple will be unveiling their latest product, iPhone X, today. You can follow live updates here.

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