It's a good week to be Bob Stoops.
The Oklahoma head coach picked up victory No. 100 in Big 12 play on Saturday, his team is a favorite to make the College Football Playoff and the Sooners' backup quarterback situation might have just dramatically improved.
Transfer quarterback Baker Mayfield won his appeal with the NCAA and has been granted immediate eligibility, according to news9.com.
However, NCAA rules expert John Infante cautions that the signal-caller likely still needs a waiver of the Big 12's intraconference transfer rule before he's allowed to play this year.
Mayfield originally walked-on at Texas Tech and was thrust into the starting role as a true freshman. He earned Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors after throwing for 2,315 yards and 12 touchdowns last season.
He lost his starting job after suffering an injury last season, though, and transferred to Oklahoma in the spring after he was told he wouldn't be put on scholarship in Lubbock. Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury told reporters several times that the school blocked Mayfield's move to Norman as part of school policy, thus prompting Mayfield to seek a waiver that would allow him to play right away at Oklahoma and not lose any eligibility in the process.
"I wish Tech would do the right thing," Mayfield's lawyer, Jim Darnell, said last month. "They're punishing him to tune of over $42,000 in tuition (to attend Texas Tech and Oklahoma as a walk-on). It's costing him a pretty penny."
Mayfield is unlikely to supplant Trevor Knight as the starting quarterback but Mayfield would give the team a veteran option and nice insurance policy as a backup. Knight, a possible Heisman Trophy candidate, is a dual-threat signal-caller who is always a threat to take off running. Current backup Cody Thomas lacks the experience of Mayfield. Thomas has attempted just four passes at the collegiate level.
You can follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.