Familiar Habits Sink Oklahoma, and Now Another Long Season Looms

ATHENS, Ga. — Brent Venables thinks often about standards.

Leading up to Oklahoma’s trip to No. 2 Georgia, he labeled the Bulldogs the current “gold standard” in the Southeastern Conference, and for good reason.

Kirby Smart’s group has won the last two SEC football titles and three of the last four. The Bulldogs won back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022.

On Saturday, OU learned just how far away it truly is.

Georgia brushed Venables’ group aside 41-13. The game turned on a trio of terrible turnovers by quarterback John Mateer. And while the coaching staff is assuredly not coaching Mateer to throw the ball backwards, massively underthrow a receiver or get stripped on the sideline just before halftime, it’s not the first time a Venables team has seen its quarterback lose his mind.

Think Mateer against LSU a year ago, where the Sooners had to overcome three Mateer interceptions to clinch their spot in the CFP, or the entire Jackson Arnold experience.

Venables has hired three full-time offensive coordinators, been through a trio of different quarterbacks to start seasons, and yet his postgame statements in Athens rung familiar.

“Well, nothing impacts a game like turnovers,” Venables said. “Being able to have an opportunity to come to Athens, Georgia, and have an opportunity to compete and win the game, obviously, No. 1 priority is taking care of the football, and we certainly failed miserably at doing that.”

Oklahoma’s defense hung in the game admirably.

After Georgia scored touchdowns on its second and third drives of the game, OU mostly held up.

The only points surrendered until the fourth quarter came as a result of Mateer’s miscues, but the dam finally broke late. Dwight Phillips Jr. broke off a 54-yard touchdown run, a play that by itself outdid the 52 combined rushing yards from Sooner running backs, and Talyn Taylor caught a 41-yard pass to set up a field goal.

“Our guys were never disinterested, they've got great pride and a lot invested, and they care about playing to a certain standard,” Venables said. “Good plays … when you play good people, they're going to happen. You don't like it, and especially the explosive ones. Other than those two explosive plays, I thought our guys really played well.”

Mateer’s mistakes ultimately cost Oklahoma the game, but the Sooners stumbled out of the gates before Mateer started to deal the real damage.

OU had to burn a timeout on the first two third downs the offense faced, as Ben Arbuckle seemingly couldn’t quickly get a play in that he liked. Out of those timeouts, the Sooners completed a pass for no gain and Mateer threw an incompletion.

The second time the punt team was sent out, Oklahoma had to eat a delay of game penalty because it wasn’t lined up.

OU’s defense eventually dialed in on the Georgia offense, but with a failing offense, the defense can’t afford to grow into the game.

Last year, the Sooners were able to piece together enough offense to pair with massive defensive and special teams plays to win on the road at Tennessee and Alabama, but the formula is not sustainable.

The Crimson Tide proved that when they turned around a 17-0 deficit to dump OU out of the College Football Playoff.

Those moments fueled the Sooners into an offseason of positivity, but reality is starting to set in.

Mateer is now healthy, and his play is somehow worse.

The Georgia team OU faced on Saturday isn’t as talented across the board as Smart’s title-winning teams, but the Bulldogs are still a cut above Tennessee and Kalen DeBoer’s version of the Tide.

Venables is now 8-9 in the SEC in regular season conference matchups (8-10 including the CFP loss) with a treacherous schedule ahead.

Oklahoma looks closer to its third losing season under Venables than it does to righting the ship, and the Sooners certainly look no closer to winning the conference than they did three years ago.

Venables returned to Norman sounding like a broken record: he wanted his program to “defend the standard.”

Saturday night, he returned to a familiar loop — lamenting turnovers and missed opportunities after a defeat that knocked OU back to .500.

“Again, give Georgia credit,” Venables said. “They got a heck of a team and do a great job. Got a lot of great players, well-coached, and that's who they are.

“But we got to get out of our own way and give ourselves an opportunity to win by not being as careless with the football at the end of the day.”

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