Baker Mayfield, a forefather in controversial behavior and flag planting as a college football star, has spoken out about the barbaric gridiron weekend that saw several fights around the country.
It may have been the perfect violent storm with it being the final week of college football’s regular season, meaning its the last true chance for most teams to change their College Football Playoff destiny.
Those season-defining games also, in most cases, happened to be rivalry games with bitter foes coming ready for a scrum.
A flag-planting incident at Michigan-Ohio State started the day, after the Wolverines upset the then-second-ranked Buckeyes and celebrated the victory by planting their maize and gold flag into the heart of Columbus.
Ohio State’s roster took that as the harshest form of disrespect and a brawl ensued. The fight was so rough that police had to deploy pepper spray to get coolers heads to prevail.
‘(Oklahoma)-Texas does it every time they play. It’s not anything special. You take your L and you move on. I’ll leave it at that,’ Mayfield said, seven years after he planted the Sooners flag in the same location Michigan’s players did on Saturday, with 99.9 percent less push back.
Mayfield has spoken out about the several brawls from college football games this weekend
Michigan-Ohio State kicked off the day with a violent brawl started by a flag-planting incident
Mayfield’s flag plant did not stop him from winning the Heisman Trophy in 2017, even after his cross-field crotch grab against Kansas was vilified as a rude gesture. His antics also did not stop the Cleveland Browns from selecting him first overall in the 2018 NFL Draft.
The Wolverines-Buckeyes brawl set off a chain of college-football fights around the country, including incidents between Florida and Florida State, North Carolina State and North Carolina, Missouri and Arkansas, as well as Auburn and Alabama.
Notre Dame’s Rylie Mills also threw a punch in the middle of his team’s game against USC to a downed opponent.
‘College football is meant to have rivalries,’ Mayfield continued. ‘That’s like the Big 12 banning the “horns down” signal. Just let the boys play.’
Another flag-planting-instigated brawl happened in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Saturday night
Rival rosters from Florida and Florida State also could not keep their hands off of each other
Notre Dame’s Rylie Mills also threw a punch during the game against USC to a downed opponent
Ohio State and Michigan were both fined $100,000 for the brawl, which is pocket change to two athletic programs of their stature.
Other punishments are expected to be handed down to individual players and schools in the coming days.
There is also a belief that some conferences may ban flag planting all together to avoid some of the instigating actions from Saturday’s group of brawls.
Although Mayfield does not outright condemn the fighting, his words still speak to the majority of rivalry games that do not end in violence.
