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The Patrick Mahomes-Baker Mayfield Game: Inside the 66-59 shootout
Updated Sep 19, 2019; Posted Oct 31, 2018
By Tim Bielik, cleveland.com
Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes last met in 2016 at Texas Tech, when Mayfield's Sooners beat Mahomes' Red Raiders, 66-59.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes last met on the field in Lubbock, Texas, in 2016.
That night, the two quarterbacks put one of the most memorable offensive shows in college football history. Mayfield and the Sooners overcame a record-setting night from Mahomes and the Red Raiders to win, 66-59.
Mahomes set an NCAA record for total offense in a game with 819 yards, including 734 through the air. Not to be outdone, Mayfield threw for 545 yards and seven TDs.
The game is more than two years old. But it's one that those involved have not forgotten.
Relive the game here with the help of those who played in it or watched it first-hand.
Also, check out eight numbers from the game you might not know and read Jake Burns' breakdown of how Mayfield can get to Mahomes' level in the NFL.
The buildup
On paper, neither Oklahoma nor Texas Tech had much to play for heading into that game.
The Sooners had two losses, effectively eliminating them from the College Football Playoff after reaching the Orange Bowl the year before. Texas Tech had lost two straight and their defense had given up 40 points in four of its first six games.
Mayfield was well known throughout the country. Mahomes, however was more of a secret.
Don Williams, who writes for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and has covered Texas Tech in some capacity for 32 years, has seen plenty of explosive passers play for the Red Raiders. But Mahomes was something different.
"The thing about Patrick that kind of set him apart from those other quarterbacks was he was the guy who did have the big arm," Williams told cleveland.com. "For me, there's kind of two guys who have played quarterback at Texas Tech over the last 30 years that have had huge arms. One was Patrick. And the other was Billy Joe Tolliver, who I still believe has as much arm strength as Patrick was."
On the other side, while Oklahoma's offense was explosive, its defense had its share of problems. They gave up 33 points to Houston, 45 to Ohio State, 46 to TCU and 40 to Texas.
"You started getting the sense that this was a pretty good team, or at least a pretty good offense," Ryan Aber, who writes for The Oklahoman and has covered Oklahoma football for the past six years, told cleveland.com. "It's just sort of been what Oklahoma's M.O. has been the last few years, which is great offense and shaky defense, which leads to some interesting games like that one, like the one at West Virginia a few years before (in 2012) where Tavon Austin just goes off."
First quarter
Oklahoma raced out to a 13-0 lead, scoring twice on eight offensive plays. Mayfield threw a 56-yard touchdown pass to Joe Mixon and a 49-yarder to Dede Westbrook.
The second touchdown was set up by a fumble recovered by Oklahoma linebacker Jordan Evans. It was one of only two takeaways in the entire game.
But Evans knew going that even with a 13-point lead early, nothing was safe with Mahomes on the other sideline.
"I feel like there's been other years where we went up against them and it wasn't a problem," Evans, who now plays for the Bengals, told cleveland.com. "It's really all through Mahomes. Mahomes is what I feel like made that team so good offensively. That's what made it such a problem."
Texas Tech responded with 10 straight points, including a four-yard TD run by Da'Leon Ward. That was only the second run play of the game for the Red Raiders.
End of first quarter: Oklahoma 13, Texas Tech 10
Mahomes passing yards: 191
Mayfield passing yards: 146
Mahomes, showing his ability to keep plays alive. (John Weast, Getty Images)
Second quarter
The period started with two punts within 47 seconds. Oklahoma opened up a 20-10 lead when Mixon raced 46 yards after a Texas Tech punt.
That's when Mahomes started finding the end zone. His first score was on an 11-yard run to make it a 3-point game.
Austin Seibert gave Oklahoma a 23-17 lead on a field goal. The Sooners then picked off Mahomes at their 2 but failed to convert the turnover into points.
Mahomes and the Red Raiders raced 80 yards in just 1:26 and found Jonathan Giles for a 23-yard touchdown for a 24-23 lead, with 37 seconds left before halftime, their first and only lead of the game.
Not to be outdone, Mayfield and the Sooners responded in two plays: a 52-yard pass to Westbrook and a 23-yard TD pass to Nick Basquine to take a 30-24 lead. The drive lasted 20 seconds.
"That's when you're like, 'Oh, here we go. Buckle up, because this is going to be a wild ride in the second half,'" Aber said. "You knew ... that it was going to be high scoring. But really, when you get two touchdowns in the final 40 seconds of the second quarter, that's when you start saying, 'Hey, this could be different than anything else I've ever seen.'"
Oklahoma had already scored more than it did in losses to Houston and Ohio State. Mahomes was almost halfway to tying Connor Halladay's NCAA record for passing yards in a game.
But things were just beginning.
End of second quarter: Oklahoma 30, Texas Tech 24
Mahomes passing yards: 375
Mayfield passing yards: 276
Third quarter
The third quarter started quietly. Texas Tech went three-and-out, punting the ball away.
That was the last punt of the night.
It kicked off a stretch of 10 consecutive drives that ended in touchdowns. All but one were drives of 75 yards or more, and all but one had scoring plays of at least 15 yards.
Mayfield's 23-yard toss to Westbrook was the shortest scoring play of the quarter. Mahomes had TD passes of 32 and 41 yards, and Mayfield added scoring passes of 43 and 34 yards as well.
"It was still tough because it's like, 'Dang, we're going out there and not doing enough,'" Evans recalled. "We were being (heavily) reliant on our offense. I mean, at the same time, our offense, obviously, was great. They did what they're supposed to do. Regardless, they're scoring touchdowns. We're still getting scored on. So we were on the sideline pretty upset and pissed."
Joe Mixon (25) was a big playmaker for the Sooners and Mayfield. (John Weast, Getty Images)
The mood in the press box that night was somewhere between bewilderment and frustration.
"In this position, you're probably angry that this is a game that is going back-and-forth. Every time you look up, somebody's scoring," Williams said. "You're trying to work on a game story that's going to be due 30 minutes after the game is done. And, 'Oh, somebody just went 50 yards for another touchdown.' So you update that. Sixty seconds later, 'Great, somebody just went 60 yards for a touchdown.'
"As a sports writer, I didn't get the fun that 60,000 fans in the seats and millions more on TV had and thinking, 'Wow, what a great game.' We had the tension and pressure of trying to put it into words on a tight deadline."
Aber had a similar experience.
"We're working and people (in the press box) aren't cheering. But you also can enjoy what's going on on the field and how entertaining it is," Aber said. "It's not always the prettiest form of football. But at the same time, people like seeing points scored. That includes those of us in the press box."
In that quarter, the two quarterbacks combined for 379 yards passing and five touchdowns. There were still 15 minutes to go.
End of third quarter: Oklahoma 51, Texas Tech 38
Mahomes passing yards: 575
Mayfield passing yards: 455
Fourth quarter
This was the only quarter in which Texas Tech outscored Oklahoma. The Red Raiders had a 21-15 advantage, but never got the stop it needed to have a chance to tie or win.
Mixon helped play the role of closer, catching a 15-yard TD pass from Mayfield and rushing 42 yards for a TD. His scores twice gave Oklahoma a two-possession lead.
"People forget about Joe Mixon," Aber said. "Mixon, obviously, he is a polarizing figure in Norman and in college football, period. But that might have been his best game at Oklahoma for a lot of reasons: for what he was able to do on the ground, what he was able to do through the air on some of those catches from Mayfield."
Trailing, 66-52, Texas Tech got the ball back with 5:03 left on its 8 after a penalty on a kickoff following Mixon's second TD of the quarter. The Red Raiders scored on a 3-yard TD pass from Mahomes to Cameron Batson to make it 66-59 with 1:38 left.
Texas Tech tried an onside kick. But Oklahoma recovered and ran out the clock. By the end of the game, the teams ran a combined 185 plays and each gained 854 yards of offense.
"I guess it's only been brought on to me now two years later by the amount of interest that there is in kind of looking back on that game because I just thought, 'Okay, Baker Mayfield's going to light Tech up. There's no way they're going to stop those guys. Patrick and his receivers, they're going to put up huge numbers, too. So, this is going to be a high-scoring game,'" Williams said.
"It wasn't like a guy who had come down from Mars and was blown away but what I was seeing. It was kind of what I had expected to see."
Final score: Oklahoma 66, Texas Tech 59
Mahomes passing yards: 734
Mayfield passing yards: 545
The aftermath
Mahomes and Mayfield eventually became early NFL draft picks. Mahomes went No. 10 to Kansas City in 2017, and the Browns grabbed Mayfield No. 1 in 2018. Both now start.
Mahomes has been dominant this season, throwing 26 touchdown passes. Mayfield has had his rookie struggles but has shown potential to be the elusive franchise quarterback for the Browns.
Texas Tech finished the 2016 season 5-7. For Evans and Oklahoma, the shootout was a turning point in the season. The Sooners won the Big 12 and beat Auburn in the Sugar Bowl to finish 11-2.
"(The film) was very, very hard to watch because obviously, as a whole defense, what we gave up." Evans said. "For me, it was hard to watch because that was one of the worst games I think I've ever played in my career.
"We had to turn it around if we wanted to win the Big 12 championship. I kind of put it up on my back to lead the team in that way. Guys followed suit, and that's when we ended up becoming a pretty good team and winning the Big 12."
The following season, Mayfield won the Heisman Trophy and Oklahoma returned to the College Football Playoff.
If you're interested in watching the full game, you can find it here.
https://www.cleveland.com/sports/erry-2018/10/b76061a46a5865/the-patrick-mahomesbaker-mayfi.html
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