Kyler Murray wins 2018 Heisman Trophy as Oklahoma quarterbacks repeat

Kyler Murray won the 2018 Heisman Trophy to give Oklahoma back-to-back winners after Baker Mayfield won last year.

For the second year in a row, the Heisman Trophy went to an Oklahoma quarterback. Kyler Murray is the seventh Oklahoma player to win the Heisman, tying Ohio State and Notre Dame for the most.

Murray took home the Heisman over Tua Tagovailoa and Dwayne Haskins after surpassing the performance from his predecessor, Baker Mayfield last year when he won the Heisman.

Mayfield, who became the 21st Heisman winner to then go on to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft congratulated his former teammate on going back-to-back. Murray became the first Heisman winner to win the year after replacing the Heisman winner.

Murray completed 70.9 percent of his passes for 4.053 yards and threw 40 touchdowns to only seven interceptions in his first year as the starter. He also led the nation with a 205.72 quarterback rating and ran for 892 yards and 11 touchdowns for the Big 12 champions who will play Tagovailoa and Alabama in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 29.

It was anticipated this year’s vote would be one of the tightest in Heisman history. The 2009 vote was the closest in Heisman history when Alabama’s Mark Ingram had 28 more votes than Stanford’s Toby Gerhart.

However, after all the votes were tabulated, it wasn’t as close as many would have thought. Murray received 517 first-place votes and a total of 2,167 votes. Tagovailoa came in second with 299 first-place votes and a total of 1,871 votes, the most ever for a runner-up. Haskins had 46 first-place votes and 783 total votes.

Murray was the No. 9 pick in last year’s MLB Draft by the Oakland A’s and is expected to pursue his professional baseball career once his college season is over. The A’s were among those congratulating Murray on his Heisman win.

Tagovailoa was the front-runner for much of the season for the dominating performances he had leading the No. 1 team in the nation. He did all of his damage in the first three quarters before sitting and enjoying the team’s insurmountable lead in the fourth quarter. If not for his team’s dominance, Tagovailoa would have needed to play the fourth quarters of games which would have added to the volume of his numbers and could have changed the vote.

His stranglehold on the Heisman began to loosen after a so-so performance vs. Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, that included two interceptions, before he was removed due to a sprained ankle suffered early in the game.

Coupled with Tagovailoa’s struggle at the finish line and Murray’s continued dominance opened the door for the Oklahoma signal-caller to take the late lead and win in a photo finish.

Tagovailoa will have a chance to win in 2019 as he returns for his junior year. Alabama hasn’t had a quarterback win the Heisman in program history and after coming this close this year, expect there to be some unfinished business that he and his teammates want to finish in 2019.

Haskins has been overlooked all year in the Heisman race despite leading the nation in passing yards and touchdowns. Haskins earned the third invitation to the Downtown Athletic Club with his play down the stretch for the Buckeyes. Haskins accounted for 1,300 pass yards and a combined 17 touchdowns (14 pass, 3 run) in Ohio State’s last three games.

Haskins didn’t win but he might be the top quarterback picked in April’s NFL Draft. The redshirt sophomore hasn’t revealed his plans but I expect him to declare after Ohio State plays Washington in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.