Sideline Mayfield?

Berry Tramel says the Sooner quarterback must be suspended for the West Virginia game.

Baker Mayfield is a competitor. He says it a lot. Lincoln Riley says it, too. And we don’t need them to say it. We see it for ourselves.

But Mayfield is not the only competitor on the Sooner squad. Rodney Anderson is a competitor. Ogbonnia Okoronkwo is a competitor. Orlando Brown is a competitor. Mayfield is not the only competitor on Big 12 gridirons. Mason Rudolph is a competitor. Joel Lanning is a competitor. Malik Jefferson is a competitor.

And they don’t go around grabbing their crotch for all to see when they emerge victorious from being challenged.

Oklahoma’s quarterback embarrassed himself Saturday in Lawrence, Kansas. Embarrassed himself, embarrassed his team, embarrassed his school, embarrassed his adopted state. Standing on the field, yelling obscenities and making obscene gestures, is not acceptable and Mayfield himself said so with his postgame apology.

But Mayfield apologies are wearing thin. Which is why it’s time for Lincoln Riley to show he’s serious about running a class program.

Mayfield must be suspended for the West Virginia game Saturday.

That’s a serious step. It would imperil Mayfield’s Heisman Trophy campaign, which was reaching landslide status in recent weeks. Even more, it would imperil

OU’s College Football Playoff hopes. I think the Sooners would beat the Mountaineers without Mayfield, especially since West Virginia also figures to be without its quarterback, the injured Will Grier. But you never know. Mayfield is college football’s best and most valuable player. You can’t lose him without ramifications.

But college football should not be a winat-all-cost enterprise. Sometimes we forget that. But it’s true. And suspension is necessary, for a variety of reasons. Starting with, it might be the only thing Mayfield would understand.

“That’s not who I am,” Mayfield said while apologizing, but he’s wrong about that. That’s exactly who he is. You are who your actions show you are. That doesn’t mean Mayfield has to be that person forever. But he’s that person now.

This isn’t planting a flag on Ohio Stadium’s midfield. That was harmless high jinks. This is repugnant behavior, and it doesn’t matter if it’s Jameis Winston in the Florida State student union or Baker Mayfield on the green grass of KU’s Memorial Stadium. When you’re ashamed to have your wife and kids walking through a commons or watching an OU football game, there’s a major problem.

Mayfield already has used his get-out-ofjail-free card. After his February arrest for public drunkenness in Fayetteville, Arkansas, complete with video, Mayfield’s discipline was kept in house. And that was in some ways understandable. Penalizing Mayfield would have penalized the program, including all the players who did nothing wrong. Sitting Mayfield for the season opener against Texas-El Paso could have hurt the Sooners’ chances the next week at Ohio State, a make-or-break game. So I got it.

But whatever that discipline, it didn’t work. Mayfield on Saturday acted unbecoming an Oklahoma captain, an

Oklahoma quarterback, an Oklahoma hero. He said all the right things in his apology, but nobody’s listening anymore.

Of course, if Mayfield is scared straight, the payoff is likely to come in his post-OU career. He’s only got three or four games left. Chances are, he’ll mind his manners. And in the NFL, big, mean men will mind them for him.

But some Riley tough love would pay off for OU far past Mayfield. There’s a whole team watching what happens to Mayfield. Running stairs at 5 a.m.? Writing “I will not grab my crotch in public” 1,000 times on a chalkboard? Does that get the Sooners’ attention? Maybe. Does one of the best quarterbacks in college football history sitting out a huge game get the Sooners’ attention? Absolutely.

I know, the Jayhawks were accessories to the crime. KU’s captains refusing to shake hands with Mayfield before the game was low class. The late and potentially dangerous hit by Kansas cornerback Hasan Defense was inexcusable.

But no one who wears crimson, no one associated with OU, no one in the state of Oklahoma, should care. This isn’t about Kansas. This isn’t about ESPN. This isn’t about political correctness. This is about doing what’s right and about defending the Oklahoma brand.

Heck, even beleaguered KU is worried about its reputation. The antics of the Jayhawks have made some in Kansas call for coach David Beaty’s job. They could live with three wins in three years. They can’t live with no class.

That should be the Sooners’ mantra. Winning is important. But it can’t be paramount.

Mayfield said “this is not who I am.” But we know differently.

This is Riley’s chance to say of the Sooners, “this is not who we are.”