Remembering Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes shattering records in 2016 Oklahoma-Texas Tech showdown

No. 7 Oklahoma plays at Texas Tech Saturday night; two years ago in Lubbock, Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes combined for an offensive explosion.

Rightfully so, the attention of the College Football World will have difficulty focusing on any one game Saturday. The schedule is packed with games that will impact division races and the next College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday.

However, the two-year anniversary of the most offensive game in recent memory is worth making sure the batteries in the remote are fresh. No. 7 Oklahoma travels to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech in a primetime game on ABC.

By (nearly) a mile, their game in 2016 enhanced the reputation that the Big 12 was obsessed with offense and indifferent to defense. The “is that a typo?” offensive numbers gave the Big 12’s detractors more ammunition in their argument that the conference’s teams stacked up statistics because the defenses were inferior.

Oklahoma outscored Texas Tech, 66-59, in a game that – not surprisingly – lasted four hours. They combined for 1,708 yards, one of several FBS records set.

Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield, who started his career at Texas Tech before transferring, was fueled by the fans’ invectives marking his return. He threw for a school-record seven touchdowns, completing 27 of 36 passes for 545 yards. The Sooners set an FBS single-game record with a 500-yard passer, a 200-yard rusher (Joe Mixon, 263) and a 200-yard receiver (Dede Westbrook, 202).

Texas Tech quarterback and current NFL wunderkind, Patrick Mahomes outgunned Mayfield. The Red Raiders junior attempted 88 passes, gaining 734 yards and setting an FBS record with 819 yards in total offense. Mahomes played with a right (throwing) shoulder he had sprained two weeks earlier and suffered a fractured left wrist in the first half.

“It was the best I’ve ever seen two quarterbacks play in college football going head to head,” Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury said on this week’s Big 12 coaches teleconference. “No matter what they did, it seemed to work. Whether it was on schedule, off schedule, both guys were making plays all over the place. All those playmakers making great plays.

“Just kind of the perfect storm to have the greatest offensive output in college football.”

And while all the gaudy offensive numbers became punchlines for Big 12 critics, it turns out that the game featured two quarterbacks who are now starting in the NFL.

Will the past be a prelude to Saturday night? Oklahoma (7-1, 4-1) was eliminated from the CFP chase in 2016 when it faced Texas Tech. Now, the Sooners are faced with winning out and the Red Raiders (5-3, 3-2) have a history of playing OU tough when they’re at home.

Oklahoma is led by Mayfield’s successor, junior Kyler Murray, who leads the Big 12 in total offense and has thrown 28 touchdowns with just three interceptions. His play thus far has placed him not only in this season’s Heisman Trophy race but he is ahead of the record-setting pace Mayfield set in 2017 when he won the Heisman and later became the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.

Texas Tech counters with freshman Alan Bowman. Despite not starting the opener and missing a game with a collapsed lung, Bowman leads the Big 12 with 344 yards passing per game and is second to Murray in total offense.

By statistics alone, the stage is set for a Fourth of July fireworks display on the first Saturday in November. Oklahoma leads the Big 12 in total offense while Texas Tech is second. While the Red Raiders’ defense is improved, its seventh in the league in total defense and ranks last in pass defense.

After allowing Texas to score a rivalry-record 48 points in the team’s lone loss, coach Lincoln Riley dismissed defensive coordinator Mike Stoops. Ruffin McNeill stepped in and OU’s defense has shown improvement. But the numbers – 27 and 14 points, 275 and 245 total yards allowed – are suspect because TCU and Kansas State, the two opponents have significant offensive issues.

There’s a strange symmetry to this game, a twisty tie backstory that put some of the leading characters on Saturday’s stage.

On Sept. 27, 2007, Oklahoma State defeated Texas Tech, 49-45, in Stillwater. That game is famous (infamous?) for Mike Gundy’s post-game “I’m a man, I’m 40” rant. The Cowboys piled up 718 yards and Red Raiders coach Mike Leach soon after fired defensive coordinator Lyle Setencich and promoted McNeill.

Two years later, Leach was forced out near the end of the season and McNeill was named interim head coach for Texas Tech’s bowl game. Riley, then 26, replaced Leach as the interim offensive coordinator. The Red Raiders won the Alamo Bowl; East Carolina hired McNeil as head coach and Riley followed as an offensive assistant.

After a disappointing 2014 season, Bob Stoops hired Riley to run the Sooners’ offense; he was the play-caller in the 2016 shootout. Two years later, Stoops retired and Riley was promoted to run the program. His first hire was McNeill as the assistant head coach and defensive tackles coach.

The coaching carousel sometimes spins careers on unlikely journeys.

And there’s another ironic twist. Mahomes and Mayfield will meet Sunday as Mahomes and the Chiefs face Mayfield’s Browns in Cleveland. Both will probably steal some time to watch their former teams.

As Mayfield told ESPN for an oral history about the 2016 game, “Weird things happen in Lubbock, Texas, on Saturday nights.”

NCAA record keepers: You’ve been warned.