Defense/ST Notes: Michigan laments missed opportunities, John Mateer's showing

NORMAN, Okla. – The Michigan Wolverines‘ defense did everything it could to limit quarterback John Mateer and the Oklahoma Sooners in a 24-13 loss on Saturday night. But in those “gotta have it” moments, U-M fell short.

A lot of that has to do with the play of Mateer, who went 21-for-34 for 270 yards, a touchdown and an interception, along with 19 rushes for 74 yards and 2 touchdowns. Michigan adjusted the best it could, but Mateer quarterbacked the Sooners to a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive on its first possession, a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to close out the first half and a 16-play, 78-yard drive that took nearly 9 minutes off the clock to salt away the win.

Michigan surrendered 408 yards of total offense, along with 9 third-down conversions on 17 tries for the Sooners. Oklahoma also converted a fourth down. Even with adjustments in the second half, it was too many self-inflicted errors to overcome.

“It’s an opportunity to get better and learn from the mistakes, come out next week,” senior linebacker and captain Ernest Hausmann said after the game.

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore liked the second-half adjustments overall.

“I think for us, we’ll watch it on the film and really gauge and see what we need to get better at,” Moore said during his postgame press conference. “I thought on defense, the adjustments in the second half were really good. We got tackled better on defense. I thought there were some missed tackles that we made.”

Mateer, who transferred in from Washington State, along with his offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, showed off his skill-set when it mattered most, especially on some of his shots down the field. The quarterback runs and conversions were particularly killer.

“He’s a great player,” Hausmann said. “We knew we had a challenge ahead of us this week in prep. He’s a great player, and the offense did a good job of putting him in good positions to make plays with his feet. He’s a great player who made great plays today.

“…He can do a lot of things to affect his defense with his feet, his arm and his knowledge of the game. He’s been playing college football for a long time, he’s experienced, he knows how to operate that offense and he did a great job today.”

There were missed sacks, dropped interceptions and more. Not enough plays were made for the Maize and Blue. Michigan knows it, and Hausmann was blunt about what happened.

“There are always plays that you can always go back and think about, you’re close there,” Hausmann said. “But, at the end of the day, almost doesn’t count in this league. It’s point-blank. You can almost be there, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t get the job done. We did not get the job done today.”

Hausmann was not on the field for the drive that Oklahoma used in the fourth quarter to seal the win. But no excuses were made. Any Michigan defender out there is called on to get the job done, and they could not get the critical stop needed.

“We don’t look at the amount of plays we’re on the field,” Hausmann said. “We have a job as a defense, wherever the ball’s at, to get off the field — no matter how long it takes. That’s the mentality. No matter what it is, just get the ball lined up, get lined up and play defense. We don’t look at how many reps we’re on the field. We just try to get off the field. That’s our only job on the field, so that’s what it is.”

Miscellaneous Michigan defensive notes

• Senior linebacker Jimmy Rolder made his first career start, replacing senior Jaishawn Barham, who was suspended for the first half after a targeting ejection last week vs. New Mexico.

• Senior defensive back Jaden Mangham, a former starter at rival Michigan State, made his first start in the Maize and Blue, too.

• Junior defensive back TJ Metcalf made his first interception as a Wolverine in the first quarter.

• Five different Wolverines intercepted or defended a pass in Metcalf, senior corner Zeke Berry, junior corner Jyaire Hill, senior EDGE Derrick Moore and Rolder.

• Senior kicker Dominic Zvada missed his first field goal attempt since last year’s game at Illinois last season on Saturday night, a 32-yard attempt that hooked left. It was his first miss at Michigan that was