Mayfield, Westbrook Finalists for Major Awards

NORMAN ? Two of their sport's most successful players all season, Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield and Dede Westbrook were named finalists for major awards Monday and will attend The Home Depot College Football Awards on Dec. 8 in Atlanta, where the winners will be announced.

Mayfield is one of three finalists for the Maxwell Award, given by the Maxwell Football Club to the outstanding collegiate player of the year, as well as one of three finalists for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, issued by the Davey O'Brien Foundation.

Westbrook is one of three finalists for the Biletnikoff Award, presented by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation to the outstanding receiver in college football.

BAKER MAYFIELD

MAXWELL AWARD FINALIST / DAVEY O'BRIEN AWARD FINALIST

Maxwell Award Finalists
Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville
Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma
Jabrill Peppers, Athlete, Michigan

Davey O'Brien Award Finalists
Lamar Jackson, Louisville
Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma
Deshaun Watson, Clemson

Mayfield, who was also a Davey O'Brien Award finalist last year when he completed 68.1 percent of his passes for 3,700 yards and 36 touchdowns against only seven interceptions, is 222-for-311 (career-high 71.4 percent) this season with 35 TDs and eight picks. He has also rushed for six touchdowns.

Mayfield ranks first nationally in passing efficiency rating (194.7; the NCAA single-season record is 191.8) and yards per pass attempt (10.9; only one other player is above 10.0), second in completion percentage, third in points responsible for (22.9 per game) and fourth in passing TDs and yards per completion (15.2). He is also tied for the national lead with 19 completions of at least 40 yards.

The redshirt junior from Austin, Texas, has been especially effective in Big 12 play, leading the league in passing TDs (28; Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes ranks second with 21), completion percentage (.739; Oklahoma State's Mason Rudolph is next at .650) and pass efficiency rating (205.7; Rudolph ranks second at 163.5 and Iowa State's Jacob Park is third at 141.5). He has thrown for 323.5 yards per league contest and has also run for 134 yards and six scores during the stretch.

Mayfield's 21 passing touchdowns from Oct. 15 to Nov. 12 stand as the most in school history for a five-game span. He has accounted for at least four TDs in seven of OU's last eight games, and accounted for three in the other.

Mayfield was named the Davey O'Brien Quarterback of the Week after going 27-of-36 through the air for a career-high 545 yards (nine shy of the OU record) and a school-record seven touchdowns in a 66-59 win at Texas Tech on Oct. 22. He finished the game with 564 yards of total offense (eight shy of his own OU record) while averaging 20.2 yards per completion and 15.1 yards per attempt. His 266.3 passing efficiency rating in the game was the best in school history among players with at least 30 throws.

Mayfield also passed for 323 yards against Houston (Sept. 3), 390 vs. Texas (Oct. 8), 346 vs. Kansas State (Oct. 15), 328 at Iowa State (Nov. 3) and 300 vs. Baylor (Nov. 12).

Dede Westbrook

BILETNIKOFF AWARD FINALIST

Biletnikoff Award Finalists
Austin Carr, WR, Northwestern
Isaiah "Zay" Jones, WR, East Carolina
Dede Westbrook, WR, Oklahoma

Westbrook, a senior from Cameron, Texas, who is having one of the best receiving seasons in Big 12 history, leads all Power Five players in receiving yards (1,354) and receiving yards per game (123.1), and is tied for first with a school-record-tying 15 receiving touchdowns.

Westbrook, who battled a hamstring injury during OU's first three games when he averaged 51.3 receiving yards per contest and did not score a touchdown, has exploded in eight games since. During that span, Westbrook has amassed 53 catches for 1,200 yards and 15 touchdowns. The 1,200 yards are the most ever by a Sooner in a eight-game stretch (next highest total is 1,070 by Ryan Broyles in 2011), as are the 15 receiving TDs.

Not only does Westbrook have the most receiving yards in the country since Oct. 1, no player is within 73 yards of him.

His 15 receiving scores have come, in order, from 67, 40, 71, 42, 47, 26, 8, 88, 49, 23, 41, 65, 29, 40 and 75 yards, for an average of 47.4 yards. The 15 TD catches over the last eight games are more than 44 teams have on the season. Only seven teams have more receptions of at least 60 yards this year than Westbrook's five.

Westbrook has already more than doubled the Oklahoma single-season record for touchdowns from scrimmage (rushing or receiving) of at least 40 yards. Westbrook has 11 touchdowns from scrimmage of 40-plus yards this year, while the former OU record was five.

Westbrook leads nation in receptions of 20-plus yards (24), and is tied for national lead in receptions of 40-plus (12), 50-plus (six), 60-plus (five) and 70-plus (three) yards. He has more total receiving yards the last eight games than Army, New Mexico and Tulane each have on the season.

In Big 12 play, Westbrook ranks first in the conference in receiving yards (150.0 per game) and points (12.2 per game). His 150.0 receiving yards per Big 12 contest are 55 more than the next closest player (Oklahoma State's James Washington; 95.0).

Westbrook, who registered four straight games of multiple TD receptions to start October (two at TCU, three vs. Texas, three vs. Kansas State and two at Texas Tech), has started Big 12 play by registering receiving totals of 158 yards at TCU, a school-record 232 vs. Texas, 184 vs. Kansas State, 202 at Texas Tech, 105 vs. Kansas, 131 at Iowa State, 88 vs. Baylor and 100 at West Virginia. He started returning punts Oct. 15 vs. Kansas State and kickoffs Oct. 22 at Texas Tech, and is averaging 19.8 yards on his four punt returns (had a 71-yarder for a TD against Kansas) and 28.4 yards on his eight kickoff returns.