Quarterback Baker Mayfield apologized Monday for celebrating Oklahoma's 31-16 victory at Ohio State by planting a Sooners flag at midfield of the "The Shoe."
"I didn't mean for it to be disrespectful to any Ohio State people at all, especially the team or the players, because they're a great team and a great program," Mayfield said. "It was an emotional game. I knew that it was going to have a lot of implications on the playoffs. ... I got caught up in an emotional win. Yeah, it should've been something I did in the locker room. So I apologize for doing it in the middle of the field."
Mayfield completed 27 of 35 passes for 386 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Sooners to one of their biggest nonconference victories in years.
Afterward, he took the flag from the corner where the Oklahoma band was in the stadium and ran it around the sideline to midfield. There, he jabbed the flag into the turf inside Ohio State's "block O" logo.
Buckeyes running back Mike Weber tweeted on Mayfield's actions Monday, writing that the quarterback knew to wait until Ohio State's players were in the locker room before planting the flag.
He knew to wait until we went into the locker room to pull this one off https://t.co/JOgOdEsbQ5
— Mike Weber (@mikeweberjr) September 11, 2017
Mayfield said he understood why Buckeyes fans and players might be upset about the celebration.
"If they did that here [in Norman], I would've been pissed, too," Mayfield said. "I understand why they're very upset about it.
"But I didn't mean it to be disrespectful in any way."