Baker Mayfield's crotch grab drew disapproval from ESPN's broadcasters.

Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield has been described as “the man to beat” in this year’s Heisman Trophy race, but a moment on the sidelines in the Sooners’ thumping of the Kansas Jayhawks Saturday is being discussed as something that might impact his candidacy. And ESPN announcers Dave Pasch and Greg McElroy went in on it with both barrels. After a touchdown pass put Oklahoma up 27-3, Mayfield went to the sidelines, looked over at the Kansas sideline, grabbed his crotch and made a wanking motion:

“Look, he’s just looking at the Kansas sideline,” McElroy says. “Right there, that’s just inappropriate and uncalled for,” Pasch said. “That right there, NFL GMs are going to see that and mark it down, saying ‘That’s not what we want in the National Football League.’ It’s not what Lincoln Riley wants at Oklahoma. It’s not what we want in college football as fans. No place for that. Extra point is good, 28-3. I mean, this is, you mentioned the polarizing nature…”

Pasch then went in on Mayfield again shortly afterwards, showing another clip of him taunting the Kansas sideline:

“Moments ago, there’s some things we couldn’t, we shouldn’t show you again because of the language and the action, grabbing a certain part of his person and screaming at the Kansas sideline. But it’s stuff like that, when people see that, they can’t help but make the bad Johnny Manziel comparison.”

This wasn’t Mayfield’s only controversial moment during this game, as ahead of the game, he went to shake hands with some children who were honorary Kansas captains and was denied, leading to some back-and-forth between him and Jayhawks’ players. Confrontations continued throughout the game, including Mayfield talking to Kansas fans, which Pasch described as “I think he said ‘You have one win, stick to basketball.’ In fact, one of our camera operators heard him say ‘Stick to basketball.'”:

And this led to a bunch of people arguing Mayfield shouldn’t be considered for the Heisman:

Look, considering that this trophy has been given to players with much more problematic accusations against them, such as Jameis Winston, worrying about a crotch grab seems like a little much. But this isn’t a great look for Mayfield, and people have previously been bothered by some of his behavior, including his flag-planting move against Ohio State. So he may well lose a couple of votes, even if he shouldn’t necessarily. At the least, he certainly managed to annoy ESPN’s announcers. But hey, the “stick to basketball” comment was funny. And it’s something this Kansas fan probably would endorse:

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

5 thoughts on “Baker Mayfield’s on-camera crotch grab and wanking motion bashed by ESPN announcers, discussed in Heisman context

  1. Terrific QB. Lousy person. He can apologize all he wants, but his track record on behavior isn’t very good. A more talented version of Johnny Manziel in some respects.

    1. This is such a dumb take. He has no real off the field “incidents.” He got drunk in another town and tried to stop a fight then got arrested for being too belligerent. He has WAY more good off the field “incidents.” People just don’t like him because he’s cocky, but he’s no loose cannon.

      1. Planting the flag on the OSU logo wasn’t a federal offense, but was classless. In September, he said he’d spank the Baylor team. Again, Ron Burgundy would remind him to stay classy. The line about cheering on basketball was well-played. He’s a young guy. He has time to figure it out. I hope he does. He’s a lot of fun to watch on the field.

  2. Let me get this straight. You are winning 28-3 (and eventually 41-3) against an obviously inferior opponent and you feel the need to do this? Only a few months before the NFL draft? What the end game for doing this and can he be any more stupid? He looks like he is just one more punk ready to enter a league full of punks. And the NFL wonders why their product is garbage.

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