Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield named the AP Player of the Year
Baker Mayfield #6 of the Oklahoma Sooners throws against the TCU Horned Frogs in the first half during the Big 12 Championship at AT&T Stadium on December 2, 2017 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (AP) - Baker Mayfield is The Associated Press college football Player of the Year, becoming the fourth Oklahoma quarterback to win the award since it was established in 1998.
Mayfield, the Heisman Trophy favorite, easily outpointed Stanford running back Bryce Love, who came in second. Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson, the other finalist and last year's Heisman winner, was third.
Mayfield received 51 first-place votes from the 56 AP college football poll voters who submitted player of the year ballots, and a total of 157 points. Love (83 points) and Jackson (39 points) each received two first-place votes and Penn State running Saquon Barkley received a first-place vote and came in fourth.
Mayfield, Love and Jackson are also the finalists for the Heisman, which will be handed out Saturday night in New York.
Mayfield is a former walk-on who has led the No. 2 Sooners to the College Football Playoff, where they will play No. 3 Georgia in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. Mayfield leads the nation in passer efficiency rating and has thrown for 4,340 yards and 41 touchdowns.
He joins Josh Heupel (2000), Jason White (2003) and Sam Bradford (2008) as previous winners from Oklahoma. No other school has had more than two players win AP Player of the Year.
___
More AP college football: http://collegefootball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25