This season is off to a nightmare start for Oklahoma Sooners quarterback John Mateer, but his game-winning drive against Texas might just be the catalyst to jumpstart his and the offense’s campaign.
Despite another sluggish, offensive showing in the 27-24 Red River Rivalry win, Mateer and the Sooners started to look more comfortable as the game wore on. He connected on multiple quick-game completions and evaded constant pressure. He also ended up hitting back-to-back perimeter daggers to Isaiah Sategna III to set up Tate Sandell’s 47-yard game-winner.
Furthermore, it looks like junior running back Lloyd Avant made a strong case to be the bell cow going forward in the win. He carried ten times for 72 yards and a touchdown, including a season-long run for the offense of 42 yards.
The drive felt like a sigh of relief and a step in the right direction for an offense that carried high expectations into the year. Mateer was lauded as a possible Heisman Trophy candidate and potential early-round, draft pick. None of that has played out in his favor. The Sooners have relied on Brent Venables’ championship-caliber defense and clutch special team’s plays in 2026.
Oklahoma’s offensive disappointments certainly don’t all fall on Mateer’s shoulders. In fact, he’s doing a decent job at times considering the circumstances. OU’s offensive line has regressed in recent years, going from the top of college football to the bottom. The running game, even with lost sack yardage and carries removed, is averaging just 3.5 yards per carry.
While the passing game has little to no time to set up full-field reads. Most of passing game’s success against the Longhorns came with single-read, quick-game completions. It’s not ideal, but it was where most of the success was found, hitting Sategna and Rocky Beers to keep the offense on schedule. OU will need to continue to string those easier completions together to open up the rest of the playbook.
Offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh was once praised as one of the best positional coaches in the country. The peak of his tenure came in 2018 when the Sooners won the Joe Moore Award, which is given to the best offensive line in the country.
However, in recent years, the line hasn’t developed the same whether it be due to the NIL era or other reasons. In fact, from the 2021-2024 drafts, the line had six players drafted, four of which became starters. In the last two drafts, only one player was drafted.
This year’s offensive front has taken its lumps, but it’s flashed some potential against a brutal schedule that’s featured four-straight opposing defenses in the top-20 in points allowed per game. Still, it hasn’t made things easy on the senior signal caller. The instability has instilled some bad habits in him.
He’s holding onto the ball too long, trying to play hero ball and struggling with decision making. The mistakes are similar to the season with Jackson Arnold in 2024, but the hope that this team can carry forward is that Mateer has shown a high ceiling many times before.
The offense isn’t banking on his potential and development, like it did with Arnold. Mateer has 29 career starts under his belt. Most of which have seen him star as a gunslinging playmaker with some incredible tools. He played a more subdued game versus the rival Longhorns, and took some bad sacks, but he also avoided the major, backbreaking mistake.
While Arch Manning showed off his arm talent and athletic ability, he also threw two, ill-timed interceptions. Mateer played within a script that fits with the Sooners’ path to success.
That play style won’t make headlines, but if he can be a game manager and not turnover the ball, they can have some success. It won’t result in a playoff bid like last season, but a bowl game appearance with the second-toughest, preseason schedule in the country, according to ESPN’s FPI, is still a positive.
Mateer and the offense will have no time to enjoy last week’s win, hosting No. 15 Kentucky (5-1 Overall, 3-1 in SEC) at 6:30 p.m. Central Time Saturday night. They’ll have to score more than the 13 offensive points versus Texas, as Kentucky averages 34.7 points per game. The Wildcats just picked up their own marquee win, defeating LSU in overtime last Saturday.
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