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    McKade Mettauer Interview 11-13-23

    Grateful for Presidential Fist Bump, Oklahoma OL McKade Mettauer Couldn't 'Let That Slide'

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    Oklahoma Sooners
    Oklahoma Sooners

    NORMAN — When the president of the university gave him a fist-bump on his way to the locker room Saturday night, McKade Mettauer felt a massive relief of stress.

    But it wasn’t until Monday night, just minutes after practice ended, that he knew for sure he would be able to play this week against BYU.

    An ejection for multiple unsportsmanlike conduct penalties doesn’t warrant a suspension — those are saved for fighting and for targeting fouls — but the Sooners’ senior right guard is glad to be in the clear for this week nonetheless.

    Now, as for what put him in this situation in the first place …

    “Obviously I let the moment and the passion of the game get into my head and I lost control of myself,” Mettauer said Monday night, answering questions about his first career ejection Saturday night during the Sooners’ 59-20 victory over West Virginia.

    After Drake Stoops’ third touchdown catch of the night early in the fourth quarter, he took a hard hit — reviewed for targeting, but ruled clean — in the end zone from WVU’s Anthony Wilson. Wilson then stood over Stoops, taunting him a little despite the lopsided scoreboard.

    McKade Mettauer pushes Anthony Wilson.

    McKade Mettauer pushes Anthony Wilson.

    First in was quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who sprinted into Wilson’s path and got in his face. During that brief confrontation, pushing and shoving from both sides ensued.

    But Mettauer saved his reaction for the extra point, when he got some retribution for Stoops by going after Wilson one-on-one.

    “I mean, yeah, that was No. 12 — the one that smoked Drake on that play — but I need to have better control of myself,” Mettauer said.

    Both players were assessed penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct, but Mettauer kept talking to Wilson and the nearest officials — and was slapped with another one. Two of those is an automatic ejection, and Mettauer’s night was done with 13:46 left on the clock.

    ”Had a couple of moments where we didn’t represent ourselves the right way from an emotional standpoint,” head coach Brent Venables said after the game. “There’s some regret there. Guys took great ownership in the locker room. How we do what we do is important to me. Lot of people counting on us to represent Oklahoma the right way. There’s a couple moments that we’re not really proud of that we’ve gotta learn from, grow up. It’s an emotional, intense game but we can’t lose our poise in those moments. That’s not representative of who we’ve been.”

    Stoops appreciated Mettauer’s actions.

    “We just got done in the locker room and he apologized,” Stoops said Saturday night. “He just got lost in an emotional moment. Emotions kind of hijacked him and that’s not who he is. That’s not the type of player he is. We all know that. So I’m saying that now so everyone knows that too. I appreciate him always having my back. We just got a little lost in the moment. Shoot, me making the mistakes of spiking the ball a little bit (on a third-quarter touchdown), there was a hijack of emotion. That’s a mistake I can’t make again.”

    Stoops appreciated it — even if he didn’t know about it until much later.

    “Drake didn’t even know I left the field,” Mettauer said Monday. “He walked past me in the locker room, I was like, ‘Hey dude, you’re welcome, or … ? ’ He was like, ‘Why are you already dressed?’ I was like, ‘I’ve been in here for hours.’ ”

    “Yeah man, that’s just football,” said sophomore Jacob Sexton, who got his first career home start next to Mettauer. “That’s part of it. I think that’s just one of those football things where it happens. You stand up for guys on the team. That’s just football.”

    Mettauer said “I’m surprised after 50 starts that it hadn’t happened” before Saturday, “but it happened. Put it on the resume. But we’re going to forget about it and move on.”

    On his way to the locker room, Mettauer got a fist-bump from OU president Joe Harroz — just a small gesture, a brief moment of support from the very top, but one he needed.

    “I’ll say,” Mettauer said. “I was a little stressed out until I got to that point. All the stress was lifted off my shoulders once that happened. But yeah, other than that, I do need to have better control of myself. Stuff like that doesn't happen to me. I'm a mature football player. But yes, when that happened, obviously I did feel like I was a little bit more in the clear. But that’s not going to happen again.”

    Still, Mettauer felt new stress of not knowing if he would get to play this week as he watched the rest of the game by himself in the locker room.

    “That was a little bit in my head,” he said. “Just sitting there by myself, it was a lot of scenarios. I didn't want to disrespect coach Venables like that and do that to the Oklahoma brand, which is what I did. And I mean, I'm part of this team. So what I do reflects coach Venables and the team, so I was a little embarrassed. I was embarrassed because of that.”

    And yet, Mettauer has emerged from an unfavorable moment as something of a folk hero in the eyes of Sooner Nation. He got payback for something someone did to Drake Stoops, son of Bob Stoops and the team’s leading receiver a powerful leader and clear fan favorite. He sacrificed his own playing time and drew the wrath of his coaches because he recognized in the moment a need to inflict some vigilante justice on the perpetrator.

    “That’s the good thing about this team is we do care for each other and that was part of why that happened,” Mettauer said. “Just the care and the passion that we have to be unified as a team and the brotherhood that we have. You can’t let that slide. Obviously I don’t need to take it to the extent that I did. But yeah, stuff like that can’t happen and we’re going to defend our guys. That was a point of unity for our team, obviously. I did think that brought us together a little bit. Not bad, it’s just the culture that we have.”

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