Jalen Hurts' crazy-good start to the season continues in Oklahoma's blowout of Texas Tech
Jalen Hurts was so good against Texas Tech that he got replaced before the fourth quarter even began.
Hurts threw for over 400 yards in just shy of three quarters of playing time and continued his amazingly good start to the 2019 season in a 55-16 win by No. 6 Oklahoma over the Red Raiders on Saturday.
Hurts was 17-of-24 passing for 415 yards and threw three touchdowns while rushing for 70 yards on nine carries and also adding a rushing touchdown. Oh, he threw his first interception of the season too. But that’s not that big of a deal when you’re playing as well as Hurts is.
The four total touchdowns brings Hurts’ total to 17 through four games in 2019. And while Hurts has 17 touchdowns (12 passing, five rushing), he’s thrown just 19 incompletions all year.
Yes, really. Hurts is 66-of-85 passing for 1,295 yards and he’s also rushed for 443 yards on 47 carries.
A legit Heisman contender
It was a little crazy to think that Hurts could be a Heisman candidate after transferring from Alabama after the 2018 season. After all, no team has ever had three different players win Heisman Trophies in consecutive seasons.
It’s not crazy in the slightest to believe Hurts can follow Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray now. Here’s how Mayfield and Murray fared through the first four games of their Heisman-winning seasons:
Mayfield (2017): 76-of-101 passing, 1,329 yards, 13 TDs, 0 Ints, 17 rushing yards
Murray (2018): 60-of-88 passing, 1,028 yards, 11 TDs, 2 Ints, 240 rushing yards
As you can see, Hurts has nearly the same amount of passing yards Mayfield did with a better completion percentage. And he’s outrushed Murray through four games by over 200 yards.
Simply put, Hurts has been the most dangerous quarterback in college football so far. If you’re making an early-season Heisman list, he’s at the top with Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor and, maybe, his former Alabama teammate Tua Tagovailoa.
Will Hurts keep it up? There’s no reason to think he won’t in Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley’s offense. He’s shown ability as a passer that wasn’t seen much in his time at Alabama, and wide receivers CeeDee Lamb and Charleston Rambo proved again on Saturday that they’re legitimate deep threats whenever Riley wants to go long.
Maybe Riley really wasn’t lying when he said before the season that he didn’t think a historic 2018 Oklahoma offense was going to take a step back in 2019. Because it certainly looks just as dangerous through the first third of the season.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports
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