Oklahoma issues Baker Mayfield empty and unnecessary ‘punishment’ vs. West Virginia

Oklahoma announced that Baker Mayfield won’t start next game in the wake of his actions against Kansas, prove that they’ve lost the plot.

In what will be his last season playing college football, Baker Mayfield has captivated fans with his dazzling performances. He has been consistently great all season long and with a week left in the season, he has practically run away in the Heisman Trophy race.

He especially captured people’s attention last week against Kansas, when he physically and mentally tortured the opposition. He trash-talked the Jayhawks players, made a lewd gesture to the crowd then told them to “go cheer on basketball instead” — all seemingly because the Jayhawks refused to shake his hand.

You can forgive Mayfield for being a fiery competitor. Being the gentleman that he is, he immediately apologized to fans in a press conference.

It should’ve been left at that. But instead, Oklahoma decided to take things one step further by disciplining Mayfield — if you even want to call it that:

Clearly, Lincoln Riley didn’t take Mike Ehrmantraut’s advice when he said “no half measures.” This fake punishment isn’t fooling anybody. If you were going to strip Mayfield of the starting job and team captaincy, then fully commit to it. Sit him against West Virginia and let him rest before the Big 12 Championship Game. Does it really matter in the end if he ends up sitting for one series before lighting up the Mountaineers defense?

And if we’re being honest, what he did didn’t deserve any discipline. All he could be accused of is kicking Kansas while they were down, which everyone in the Big 12 already does. But what the Sooners are doing here is sitting their star quarterback for showing some personality.

What he did against Kansas is no different than what he’s done all season. We’re talking about the same guy who planted the flag on the “O” after beating Ohio State. As well as the guy who threatened to “spank” Baylor. Fans love that stuff, and it’s good for the sport. If he got away scott-free after that, why bother punishing him over what he did against Kansas? And don’t say this behavior hurts his draft or Heisman stock. Talking trash on the field is hardly the same as partying excessively off of it.

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West Virginia might feel confident after hearing this news. But after shutting down Will Grier for the season, their chances of victory have increased from 0 to 0.5 percent.