Despite early struggles, John Mateer does just enough in win vs. Tennessee
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — There wasn’t much of a reason to be confident in John Mateer and the Oklahoma offense coming out of halftime on Saturday.
The Sooners had just 99 yards in the first half, while Mateer had just 44 yards through the air. The Sooners led 16-10 at halftime, with all of those points coming courtesy of OU kicker Tate Sandell and a scoop and score from R Mason Thomas. Mateer’s struggles from the previous three weeks appeared to carry over to Tennessee.
But after halftime, it was like a switch had flipped. Mateer completed 12/16 passes for 115 yards while adding 47 rushing yards. The Sooners, as a result, racked up 252 yards in the second half.
Most importantly, Mateer and the Sooners did just enough in a pivotal 33-27 win over the Volunteers.
“Just belief,” Mateer said in the difference after halftime. “Belief in the people on the other side on the defense and belief in ourselves. We didn’t get it done early in the game, but, I mean, we’re still going to have opportunities and we’re just confident in who we are.”
There were a few plays where Mateer flashed the confidence and aggression he had earlier in the season. He made plays with his legs, including a 21-yard scramble that got the Sooners inside the red zone.
His best play came on a 25-yard dart to Isaiah Sategna to the red zone late in the third quarter, where he showed an aggression and accuracy that hadn’t been there in weeks. He followed that with a 10-yard scramble, which set up an Xavier Robinson touchdown that gave the Sooners the lead.
“He had great eyes,” OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said. “Really put the ball where it needed to be. There’s probably a time or two I could have put us in a better situation. But, for the majority of the night, in the second half, he just got a really good rhythm, taking good easy things underneath and hitting that nice little shot to Isaiah right over here, in this corner, right here.
“So at that moment, I knew that he was just feeling it, he did a great job of feeling the box all night too. Just whenever we did the plus one run game, he was really just in a good headspace all day, all night. Had great feet, operated well, just proud of how he responded.”
There was still plenty to cleanup for Mateer. His final line — 19/29 passing, 159 passing yards, 80 rushing yards — still isn’t quite the production the Sooners need, and the offense looked stuck in the mud for most of the first half. He also committed a potentially-costly mistake late in the game, throwing an interception with four minutes left as the Sooners were milking the clock.
Both OU coach Brent Venables and Arbuckle said the interception should’ve been a handoff.
“It was a run play all the way,” Arbuckle said. “It was a run play and I tagged a single receiver slant because they had eight humans in the box and bringing zero and it’s just a tipped pass. Not a great call by me. I didn’t put us in a great situation right there, but the kids didn’t let that waver and came back and found a way to get it done.”
But the version of Mateer in the second half is the one the Sooners need moving forward. He showed more aggressiveness in the passing game and he was actually effective in the running game. If Mateer can build on that, the Sooners (7-2, 3-2) have a real chance to capitalize on the momentum from a signature win against the Vols.
As Venables and Mateer celebrated the win after the game, that’s the message moving forward.
“Just affirmation,” Venables said. “It all starts with vision. You’ve got to see it. You’ve got to play the moment. You’ve got to walk it through and then belief, foundationally, that’s what it’s all about. You’ve got to believe in yourself, you’ve got to believe in this opportunity, you’ve got to believe in your teammate, you’ve got to believe in the coach, you’ve got to believe in the game plan, you’ve got to take action after that. It takes that. You’ve got to walk the walk, you’ve got to (have a) kick-the-door-in type of mindset. That’s how tough and challenging it is.It takes those three things to win on the road.
“We’ve got to be able to overcome. We’ve got to make our plays. We’ve got to close someone out. Tonight was just kind of a start for that. You get one shot, you get one kill, that’s it. You don’t get to go back and do this again so making the most of our opportunity, figuring it out, finding a way. My hope and my expectation and my belief is that we’ll be able to build on that and all the things I just said become part of our identity of this football team (is) leaving your mark and doing something that maybe for some people’s unthinkable.