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United Kingdom Bucs QB Baker Mayfield defends flag planting following brawls ESPN
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Jenna Laine, ESPN Staff WriterDec 2, 2024, 04:34 PM ET
Close- Jenna Laine covers the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for ESPN. She started covering the Bucs for ESPN in 2016, but she has covered the team since 2009. Follow Jenna on Twitter: @JennaLaineESPN.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, who played for Oklahoma, believes celebratory flag planting is part of the college football landscape and that teams should accept losing instead of participating in extracurricular scrums postgame.
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College football's 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 pitchfork in Arizona State at Arizona.
Mayfield, the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner, is credited with starting a trend that season, when he infamously ran out onto the field and planted the Sooners' flag in the midfield "O" after a 31-16 victory over Ohio State.
"OU-Texas does it every time they play," Mayfield said after his Week 13 victory against the Carolina Panthers. "It's not anything special. You take your L and you move on. Yeah, I'll leave it at that."
Baker Mayfield was asked about the four flag planting incidents during college rivalry weekend. It was something he did at Ohio State in 2017. "College football is meant to have rivalries. That's like the Big 12 banning the 'horns down' signal. Just let the boys play." pic.twitter.com/XCLmjvUrDQ
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) December 2, 2024
The incident between Ohio State and Michigan resulted in pepper spray being deployed by police to break up the brawl between the two team's players. The Big 10 fined both schools $100,000 for their roles in the melee.
Flag planting hasn't just been relegated to Rivalry Weekend, though. The Texas Longhorns planted its flag midfield at Michigan after the Longhorns' 31-12 victory in September. The Longhorns also planted their flag midfield on top of 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 outlaw flag planting, based on the postgame brawls. Mayfield disagreed with that.
"College football is meant to have rivalries," Mayfield said. "That's like the Big 12 banning the 'horns down' signal. Just let the boys play."
