Just like the police, Ohio State should still get to chase down Baker Mayfield
It was expected to be a battle of two College Football Playoff-caliber teams, both of whom have preseason Heisman favorites at the quarterback position.
Week 2 of the 2017 college football season would give us Oklahoma vs. Ohio State, which meant Baker Mayfield vs. J.T. Barrett, Part II. Just as it did last year, the matchup would sell itself. Arguably the top non-conference game of the college football slate would feature two quarterbacks that had seemingly been in school forever.
But Mayfield might’ve messed that all up early on Saturday morning.
Mayfield was arrested for public intoxication, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and fleeing, according to the Washington County (Arkansas) sheriff’s office.
Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield arrested in Arkansas. pic.twitter.com/KpQDCdZ6hK
— Barrett Sallee 🇺🇸 (@BarrettSallee) February 25, 2017
The preliminary police report didn’t exactly lighten the charges against the senior quarterback. Instead, they shed more light into Mayfield’s bad, bad decision.
According to the report, officers arrived to take an assault and battery report involving Mayfield. He had slurred speech, intoxicants were coming from him and his clothes were covered in food. When the officer arrived and commanded Mayfield to come to him, he fled…unsuccessfully.
Mayfield ended up getting tackled and resisting arrest some more.
Copy of the preliminary police report on Mayfield arrest: pic.twitter.com/00LDdjw89t
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) February 25, 2017
So yeah, it looks bad. If it was a redshirt freshman, it would look bad. But it wasn’t. It was a senior captain — the household name many were expecting to lead a national title contender.
And because of that, don’t expect Mayfield to miss the showdown in Columbus.
Bob Stoops isn’t exactly known for delivering harsh punishments to his stars. To be fair, neither is Urban Meyer. Many criticized him after J.T. Barrett was only suspended a game after his OVI citation in 2015.
In all likelihood, Mayfield will get similar treatment. A one-game suspension for the season opener probably awaits Mayfield. You can debate the degree of harm and shame in Barrett’s and Mayfield’s crimes, but both were in relatively similar situations as first-time offenders.
Just like Meyer did with Barrett, Stoops can use the same spin on Mayfield, regardless of how disgraceful his offense was.
Like it or not, that’s the college football world we live in.
Keep in mind, Stoops was the same coach who didn’t technically suspend Joe Mixon after seeing the horrific footage of him striking a female two years ago. After the video was released, Stoops said that in hindsight, the punishment of redshirting the star tailback didn’t fit the crime. After all, Mixon was a five-star recruit. Stoops didn’t want to kick him off the team if he didn’t have to.
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The last thing he’ll want to do is give Mayfield the suspension that he deserves. He saw what that Ohio State loss did to his team’s national title hopes last year. Win that game and Oklahoma is likely looking at its second straight College Football Playoff berth.
Stoops is the longest tenured college football coach in the country. For him, the criticism he’ll face for a soft punishment of Mayfield is worth withstanding if he goes into Columbus and pulls off a huge road victory. Oklahoma’s window to win a national title — with Mayfield at quarterback and Texas in the first year of the Tom Herman era — is now.
Mayfield can face more eternal punishment than we’ll ever hear about. Stoops can have Mayfield run until he pukes at every practice until the season rolls around.
But Stoops won’t ask backup quarterback Austin Kendall to navigate his way through Ohio State’s basic defense. Chances are, we won’t see Texas A&M transfer Kyler Murray make his first start in two years against the Buckeyes in Columbus.
All signs point to Mayfield taking the first snap on Sept. 9 in Ohio Stadium. And if last year was any indication, that might not be such a bad thing for Ohio State.