It turns out Kyler Murray and Oklahoma are going to be alright
By Josh Hill
While it’s only opening week, a lot of questions about Oklahoma’s offense without Baker Mayfield have seemingly been answered.
There were more questions than answered on Saturday morning when Oklahoma’s football season began in Norman. It was the first year without Baker Mayfield, who won the Heisman Trophy last season and went on to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. It was also the start of a season where Mayfield’s replacement had been a Top-10 pick in the MLB Draft, and was playing with house money. That and all the usual anxiety that Sooners have at the beginning of a season cast a pall over the excitement of kickoff but it didn’t ruin the day.
Anxiety faded just as fast as Florida Atlantic’s chances of winning did, as the Sooners went supersonic straight out of the gate. Questions still remain, but it’s hard to not look at what Kyler Murray did and not get really excited about where this season can go.
Murray was really the biggest question mark heading into the season. His future, as it appears at the moment, is in baseball. He’s the first-round draft choice of the Oakland Athletics and is already a prized prospected for Billy Beane. Because his future is in a different sport, many wondered whether or not he’d be able to deliver for the Sooners while essentially playing with house money. If he turns in a horrible year at Oklahoma, he has no NFL draft stock to hurt. No one in Oakland is going to care if he can’t throw a football to the right team or scores enough touchdowns. Murray’s contract with the A’s makes him higher paid than his college head coach — he’s going to be fine.
But there were no notions of nihilism in Norman on Saturday. Murray has given us all a glimpse of what his season could look like if he keeps his foot on the gas. Even taking out his thrilling scramble, Murray threw for over 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He played so well and helped the Sooners get out to such a gigantic lead (dropping 42-points in one half) that he got to end his first Saturday as a starter early.
Not everyone is going to roll over like FAU did, and the college football season is a minefield. However, Sooners fans saw exactly what they needed to see on Saturday to ignite excitement. Texas struggled on Saturday against Maryland, Baylor is a shell of a program, UCLA is finding its footing with Chip Kelly, and so on.
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No one has ever been crowned a champion on the first Saturday of the season. But Murray and the Sooners flexed hard enough to get our attention. Now it’s time to see if they can keep it and command respect.