After losing the Week 1 game against the Cincinnati Bengals 33-27, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield has to endure another forced, embarrassing moment as he loses a bet with head coach Todd Bowles. The ramifications of the victory of the Michigan Wolverines over the Oklahoma Sooners by 17-10 are heard all the way in Tampa.

As reported by NFL Insider Ari Meirov, while attending Wednesday’s presser, Tampa Bay QB Mayfield entered the press conference wearing a yellow-colored, undersized No. 18 tank top of the Michigan Wolverines. Bowles stood by and proudly sang the Michigan fight song, “The Victors”.

“That hurts, that hurts real bad. It’s been a rough couple of days. Damn, Todd,” Baker Mayfield said. “Oklahoma versus Michigan. Yeah, Todd’s son was on the winning side of it, and Sooners were not. And so, therefore, I squeezed into this little tank top.”

Brutal!

Todd Bowles saw an opportunity, and he took it.

Part of Baker Mayfield’s fame comes from his college career. He famously began his career at Oklahoma as a walk-on, became the first non-scholarship player to win the Heisman, and the first walk-on selected as the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft. Wearing the maize and blue, however, is embarrassing for a Sooner hero as big as Mayfield.

Mayfield has never played Michigan before the two schools met for the first time last year after first playing each other in 1975. The Sooners’ defense, a brainchild of defensive mastermind and head coach Brent Venables, defeated Michigan 13-24 in that meeting. This time, however, the tables were flipped.

Troy Bowles played a major role in the Wolverines’ victory on game day. Bowles posted a team-high nine solo tackles and recovered one fumble from Oklahoma wide receiver Parker Livingstone. He also recorded the game-sealing interception of Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer, who Mayfield sees a lot of himself in. Two plays later, the Wolverines scored their final touchdown.

“That specific role that he’s doing (there), he’s been killing it all through training camp,” Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham said. “That’s one of his strengths. He has a great feel for getting into windows (and) seeing the quarterback’s eyes.”

Todd Bowles did not go to Michigan, but this was just a moment to celebrate his son, and have some fun with Baker Mayfield’s pride.

The former Sooner quarterback became a program hero, posting 12,292 total yards and 119 touchdowns in the three years he played there.  He was also a unanimous first-team All-American and the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year in his final season at Norman.

Mayfield is in the top five on the passing stats leaderboards in program history. His 12,292 yards are only second behind Landry Jones’ 16,646 yards.

This friendly wager between the quarterback and head coach may have given the community a few laughs, but the franchise has higher stakes on the line. Mayfield and Bowles enter Week 2 to play the Cleveland Browns after losing 33-27 to Cincinnati in Week 1.

The Bengals defense breathed down Mayfield’s neck, sacking him four times in the game. Cincinnati forced four turnovers on Tampa Bay, three of which were consecutive. Three of them were fumbles by Mayfield.

“This one falls on me,” Mayfield said. “I mean, they had I think 17 points alone off my turnovers. Turns out to be a one-score game, six points. Offensively, it’s frustrating when you know you do something like that, when you are moving the ball up and down the field. But if we get that fixed, I get that fixed, make those corrections, we’ll be alright.

For Bowles, it is about taking his team to the postseason with Mayfield, but Mayfield may have to prove he’s worthy of the new $165 million contract extension instead of dwelling on the loss of his alma mater.  Regardless of the results in Ann Arbor, the head coach and quarterback duo showed promising synergy, which is a good sign for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers heading into the Week 2 game.