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Jenna Laine, ESPN writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, who played for Oklahoma, believes planting flags is part of the college football landscape and that teams should accept losing instead of participating in extracurricular scrums after the game.
College football rivalry weekend saw four flag-planting incidents that resulted in fights: Michigan at Ohio State, NC State at North Carolina, Florida at Florida State and a gallows at Arizona State in Arizona.
Mayfield, the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner, is credited with starting a trend that season, when he ran onto the field and planted the Sooners flag at midfield “O” after a 31-16 victory over Ohio State.
“OU-Texas does it every time they play,” Mayfield said after their Week 13 win against the Carolina Panthers. “It’s nothing special. You take your L and move on. Yeah, I’ll leave it at that.”
Baker Mayfield was asked about the four flag-draping incidents during college rivalry weekend. It was something he did at Ohio State in 2017. “College football should have rivalries. That’s like the Big 12 banning the ‘horns down’ sign. Just let the guys play.” pic.twitter.com/XCLmjvUrDQ
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The incident between Ohio State and Michigan resulted in police deploying pepper spray to break up the fight between players from the two teams. The Big 10 fined both schools $100,000 for their role in the melee.
However, the planting of flags has not been relegated only to the weekend of rivalry. The Texas Longhorns planted their flag at midfield in Michigan after the Longhorns’ 31-12 victory in September. The Longhorns also planted their flag at midfield atop a Mayfield jersey in October, but that game, known as the Red River Rivalry, was played at the Cotton Bowl, a neutral site.
Some have suggested that college football prohibits the planting of flags, based on post-game fights. Mayfield didn’t agree with that.
“College football should have rivalries,” Mayfield said. “That’s like the Big 12 banning the ‘horn down’ signal. Just let the kids play.”
