Greg McElroy on Lincoln Riley’s discipline of Baker Mayfield: ‘This had to happen’

Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield is having an incredible season, but he made headlines Saturday for the wrong reasons.

Mayfield threw for 257 yards and 3 TDs in a 41-3 rout of Kansas but it was his actions on the sideline that drew attention. He was seen making an inappropriate gesture at the Kansas sideline following a touchdown.

Mayfield has since apologized for his actions, but the Sooners announced that he would be disciplined for the incident. Head coach Lincoln Riley announced on Monday that Mayfield would not start and would not serve as a captain against West Virginia.

The ESPN’s Greg McElroy took time to address the incident on Tuesday, and he said the suspension is something that had to happen, regardless of the close bond shared by Mayfield and Riley.

ESPNU Radio shared audio of McElroy’s comments:

“This had to happen,” said McElroy. “It’s nothing personal against Baker or Lincoln, but Lincoln is running a program now. He’s a first-year head coach and he has to, no matter what, set a precedent for the future.”

Baker Mayfield and Lincoln Riley “have really leaned on each other”, says @GregMcElroy, but he thinks the decision to remove Mayfield as a captain was a necessary one pic.twitter.com/QubnsnSqiK

— ESPNU Radio on SiriusXM (@ESPNUonSiriusXM) November 21, 2017

Riley did say that Mayfield will still play in the game against West Virginia but did not indicate when that would happen. Hopefully, this is something that Mayfield can learn from and move past quickly.

Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.