FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — During Clemson's 40-6 decimation of Oklahoma in the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl, ESPN analysts Ed Cunningham and Mike Patrick did not take it easy on the Sooners.
"If I’m Oklahoma, I’m thinking about packing up the bus and let’s just go ahead and take it home. This has just been a landslide and shocking," Cunningham said after a Samaje Perine fumble late in the second quarter.
Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield didn't play in the game nor did he hear the ESPN duo's comments live, but he took notice after the fact.
"There’s a bunch of different little side comments," Mayfield said. "You could talk about the fact that they called us the scout team versus the varsity. You could say that we didn’t even want to be there and stuff like that. Them talking about coach Stoops, saying it’s embarrassing for him, which we take that as very disrespectful."
Mayfield said the comments only added to the chip on his shoulder, which grew from being slighted as a high school recruit as well as at Texas Tech.
He said the Sooners have used broadcast footage from the bowl game as motivation leading up to OU and Clemson's rematch in the Orange Bowl Dec. 31.
“That’s always been my mindset and my mentality — taking a negative thing and turning it into a positive," he said. "The guys have been able to see my attitude and how I handle things and how it affects me and so I feel like, in that sense, I lead by example."
OU wide receiver Sterling Shepard said he's viewed the game footage several times and, although he wouldn't recommend the younger players watch it, it provides him with motivation.
"We don’t want that to happen this year. In order to do that, we have to remind ourselves," he said. "We’ve watched it twice in a team setting. We just have to keep reminding ourselves of that feeling we had after that game. No one wants to have that again."
