After dominating Ohio State to the tune of 386 yards and 3 touchdowns in Oklahoma's 31-16 victory over the Buckeyes on Saturday, Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield added insult to injury by planting an OU flag at midfield of Ohio Stadium.
On Monday, however, the senior signal-caller apologized for his postgame actions.
"After the game, I did not mean for it to be disrespectful toward any Ohio State people at all, especially not the team or the players, because they're a great team and a great program," Mayfield said during a press conference on Monday. "I didn't mean it to be disrespectful at all."
.@baker_mayfield6 apologizes for planting the flag after the win. pic.twitter.com/GABar6zchJ
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) September 11, 2017
Mayfield went on to explain that planting a flag at midfield is a tradition in the Oklahoma-Texas rivalry and that he got "caught up in an emotional win." Earlier on Monday morning, OU head coach Lincoln Riley defended his star player's celebration on the Big 12 teleconference.
“He’s an emotional guy,” Riley said.”It wasn’t meant in any way to be disrespectful to Ohio State. There’s a lot of respect there. More heat of the moment than anything else.”
Mayfield's apology or Riley's explanation likely won't make any Buckeyes players or fans feel any better after Ohio State surrendered 490 yards of total offense to the Sooners on Saturday. As a result of their first loss of the season, the Buckeyes fell from second to eighth in the most-recent Associated Press Top 25.
