The health of Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield is certain to be a hot topic again today, but at least there is a game to go along with it.
Mayfield won the Heisman Trophy with ease last month but also developed flu-like symptoms during Christmas break, which became the dominant conversation leading up to this afternoon's national semifinal between the No. 2 Sooners (12-1) and No. 3 Georgia (12-1) in the Rose Bowl. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound senior missed multiple media functions last week before arriving late Saturday to the final availability for players to speak.
"We've got sick guys, too," Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said Saturday in a news conference. "It's just not as big of a deal, because they didn't win the Heisman. It is what it is."
Sunday marked the final Rose Bowl media event, which involved just Smart and Oklahoma counterpart Lincoln Riley.
When Mayfield did settle in front of the microphone Saturday, he explained his health had been improving until he did a lot of yelling that morning in practice. Riley was asked Sunday if a hoarse quarterback would result in a change of communication methods before the snap.
ROSE PICK
Whether Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield is at full strength today is certainly a big factor, especially given the way Georgia quickly sensed Auburn running back Kerryon Johnson was limited at the Southeastern Conference title game. The Sooners may be the team with more pizzazz in Pasadena, Calif., but the Bulldogs are more complete and will survive some early punches before pulling away late.Prediction: Georgia 34, Oklahoma 26— David Paschall
"We're confident in where Baker's at in him being ready to play well for us," Riley said plainly after admitting he didn't want to give Smart any kind of edge.
Mayfield has been dazzling all season, completing 262 of 369 passes (71.0 percent) for 4,340 yards with 41 touchdowns and only five interceptions. He has an efficiency rating of 203.8 and could be the first Football Bowl Subdivision quarterback to surpass 200 in a single season.
Yet Riley admitted Sunday he is also quite confident in backup quarterback Kyler Murray, the former Texas A&M starter who has completed 18 of 21 passes (85.7 percent) for 359 yards and three touchdowns in six appearances as a redshirt sophomore.
"He's done a great job and has been one of the best backups I've ever had as far as maintaining focus and being ready to play each week," Riley said. "I sleep well at night knowing that if something happened, we wouldn't miss a beat."
Georgia, of course, didn't miss a beat Labor Day weekend when true freshman Jake Fromm replaced injured sophomore starter Jacob Eason midway through the first quarter of the opener against Appalachian State. Fromm led the Bulldogs to a 9-0 record and a No. 1 ranking before they lost 40-17 at Auburn on Nov. 11, but Fromm rebounded by guiding them to three more triumphs, including a 28-7 win over the Tigers in the Southeastern Conference championship game.
Smart was asked Sunday about the lack of experience for Fromm, who ranks sixth nationally in efficiency, compared to Mayfield, who began his career as a walk-on at Texas Tech in 2013.
"The good thing is that he's not playing against Baker," Smart said. "They're not on the field at the same time unless we put him out there as a defensive back or something. He has done a good job of using the people around him to help him, and he has played in some really big games for us.
"When we were travelling to Notre Dame (for the second game of the season), I was a lot more worried about how he was going to respond to adversity and mistakes and things like that. He's not in a statistical warfare with Baker Mayfield. We know Baker is a very good player."
Today's Rose Bowl will mark the first meeting between Georgia and Oklahoma, who have rapidly rising stars as coaches. Both Smart and Riley took over programs that already were on solid ground, with Smart following the 15-year run of Mark Richt (145-51) and Riley the 18-year run of Bob Stoops (190-48).
Richt was fired after the 2015 regular season, while Stoops abruptly announced his retirement this past summer.
"In our case, the greatest challenge was not accepting what had been done before as the norm and convincing the players on the team that we can do better things," Smart said.
Said Riley: "The biggest challenge for me was starting in early June and whatever changes you felt like you had to make, you had to do them quickly."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.