Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Kyler Murray may be one of the top candidates for the Heisman Trophy through five weeks of college football, and he’s also perhaps the greatest backup quarterback of all-time.
Prior to the Oklahoma Sooners Week 5 tilt against the Baylor Bears, Yahoo! Sports’s Pat Forde reported that star quarterback Kyler Murray wouldn’t start due to a disciplinary issue. Austin Kendall’s mother tweeted that Kendall would get his first career start in college football.
Why was Murray disciplined by Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley? He showed up late to practice and it appears to be a non-issue going forward.
Kendall’s first career start lasted just two pass attempts, as he finished the game with an 0-for-2 line and four yards on one carry. Murray came into the game after missing just four plays, and even though that wasn’t exactly a lengthy suspension, he did miss more action than Baker Mayfield’s two-play suspension in the 2017 season for his actions vs. Kansas that Murray started.
Meanwhile, Murray was on fire. After entering the game for Kendall, Murray proceeded to torch the Baylor defense, proving to college football fans around the world that he is unequivocally the greatest backup quarterback in the history of this sport. (wink, wink)
After three quarters of play, Murray had a passer efficiency rating of 391.5, which gave him a serious chance at eclipsing Oklahoma’s single-game passer rating record of 303.3. That record was set by former Heisman Trophy winner Jason White, who posted that number in a 77-0 drubbing against Texas A&M.
The Sooners were up 55-26 on a hapless Baylor defense, as Murray completed 17 of 21 passes for 432 yards and six touchdowns into the fourth quarter. That’s an average of more than 20 yards per pass attempt. He also added 45 rushing yards and an additional score on the ground.
Murray has a strong case for the Heisman Trophy as the leader of an undefeated Oklahoma squad that is currently ranked sixth in the nation. He has stiff competition from fellow quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa, Dwayne Haskins and Will Grier, but this performance against a 3-1 Baylor team could move him to the top if he wasn’t there already.
Even if Murray doesn’t win the Heisman when it’s all said and done this year, he can always point to this game and say he had the greatest performance by a “backup” in college football history.