Live Updates From Oklahoma's First Trip to No. 2 Georgia

ATHENS, Ga.— Sooners on SI offers real-time observations from Sanford Stadium throughout Saturday’s matchup between Oklahoma and the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs. Just keep your browser open and refresh often.

4:58 2Q

Jacob Jordan had a step, but John Mateer couldn’t deliver an accurate ball.

The severe underthrow was easily picked off by KJ Bolden, and he returned the ball 28 yards to the Georgia 47.

That came one play after the Sooners had to eat a delay of game penalty because, for the third time in this first half, Ben Arbuckle didn’t seem to know what he wanted to do.

OU is teetering.

— Chapman

8:58 2Q

Brent Venables was hired to take the Sooners into the SEC.

Last year was fantastic. OU returned to the College Football Playoff, bagged a couple of big road wins but wasn’t able to notch wins over two of the best teams it played — Texas and Ole Miss — and Oklahoma lost the important game to Alabama after buildling an improbable path to victory in Tuscaloosa.

Georgia is the current standard in this league, however, and these two programs look miles apart through the first 20 or so minutes in Athens.

— Chapman

8:58 Q2

Georgia QB Gunnar Stockton is 9/9 for 98 yards and a touchdown.

Oklahoma QB John Mateer is 7/9 for 75 yards and a fumble for a touchdown. For Georgia.

— Hoover

8:58 Q2

Mateer with some really nice throws to Beers, Sategna and Beers again to thrust the OU offense to life. But an odd QB draw from just inside the 20, then a couple of runs by Mateer and Avant net just 5 yards.

On third-and-goal, Mateer rolls left, tries to throw but the ball slips out of his hand and bounces to Chris Cole, who return it 85 yards for a Georgia touchdown.

Unreal.

— Hoover

13:15 2Q

Some early offensive line shuffling for Bill Bedenbaugh.

Freshman guard Noah Best has been replaced at right guard by Heath Ozatea, and Eddy Pierre-Louis is at left guard.

— Chapman

14:20 2Q

The Georgia offense has 136 yards of offense on three drives.

Oklahoma got the replay review that helped stall out the first drive, but the Bulldogs have gotten the best of Brent Venables on the last two possesions.

If Georgia is going to win on that side of the ball, this game will get ugly rather quickly.

— Chapman

End of the First Quarter

Oklahoma vs. Georgia first quarter stats | OU Stats

1:48 Q1

Another offensive timeout for the Sooners. That's two.

Mateer runs a bootleg, gets pressure and fires it out of bounds. Probably not a great timeout.

Followed by a delay of game penalty against Oklahoma. Jacob Ulrich is on to punt.

— Hoover

3:16 1Q

Oklahoma had a few opportunities on that drive.

Talyn Taylor beat Eli Bowen for 30 yards on a third-and-7, then the Sooners were unable to get the fourth-down stop in the red zone to repel Georgia.

The Bulldogs, for the most part, did a good job staying ahead of the chains. Had two 5-yard gains, a 4-yard gain and then Georgia drew a pass interference on the final first down to ensure they had every option on the table for every second down call.

And UGA is honoring a few members from the team that knocked the Sooners off in the Rose Bowl to end Baker Mayfield’s career. Not the best past 10 minutes for Sooners fans inside Sanford Stadium.

— Chapman

3:16 Q1

Georgia strikes first after converting a third-and-long with a 30-yard completion and a fourth-and-2 in the red zone. Bulldogs lead 7-0.

Poor coverage technique by Eli Bowen on the long throw, Taylor Wein was facing the wrong way and got sealed on a sweep to his side, and Courtland Guillory missed a tackle on a short throw to the sideline.

Oklahoma’s defense has made some nice plays already, but they’ll have to do a lot better than that.

— Hoover

10:12 Q1

John Mateer just completed back to back passes, both for zero yards.

I could swear the OC said they were gonna go downfield more.

— Hoover

11:03 Q1

The word of the day is “caution.”

As in, both offenses are afraid to make a big mistake early, so they’re both playing with caution.

Timeout Oklahoma.

So we’re all even on timeouts.

— Hoover

12:41 1Q

Oklahoma’s starters on offense:

Fodje — Ozaeta — Maikkula — Best — Harris

Beers — Thomas — Sategna — Alleyne

Mateer — Avant

— Chapman

13:05 Q1

Oklahoma’s defense gets a three-and-out to start the game, Georgia punts. Here comes John Mateer and the Sooners offense.

— Hoover

14:14 Q1

Game’s already off to a weird start. David Stone starts and Georgia calls timeout.

— Hoover

14:14 1Q

Wow, that was uncharacteristic from Georgia.

It looked like the Bulldogs couldn’t get the look they wanted off a pair of shifts and they had to burn their first timeout.

— Chapman

15:00 1Q

Oklahoma’s starters on defense:

Wein — Jackson — Stone — Adebawore

Heinecke — Lewis — Powers

Guillory — Robinson — P. Bowen — Guillory

— Chapman

Two minutes until kickoff

Taylor Wein called heads, and he was right. The Sooners defered their option to the second half. Georgia gets the ball first.

— Chapman

29 minutes to kickoff

It appears that Georgia running back Nate Frazier (questionable all week) won’t play today. He is suited up for pregame warmups but is not warming up. Also, wide receiver Isiah Canion (questionable) apparently will not play.

Frazier’s absence is huge, as he leads the Bulldogs with 202 rushing yards and five touchdowns and is averaging 8.4 yards per carry. He’s a violent runner who breaks a lot of tackles.

Canion haș three catches for 28 yards in UGa’s three games this year.

— Hoover

36 minutes to kickoff

There are 10 NFL teams represented here at today's Oklahoma-Georgia game. There were 23 at the Oklahoma-Michigan game two weeks ago.

— Hoover

42 minutes until kickoff

Oklahoma’s starting offensive line, left to right, per warmups:

Fodje — Ozaeta — Maikkula — Best — Harris

Heath Ozaeta is set to take Eddy Pierre-Louis’ spot at left guard.

— Chapman

50 minutes until kickoff

David Stone is stretching in the end zone as opposed to standing off to the side, but he looks very stiff and limited. Still plenty of time for him to get loose if he’s going to try to give it a go today.

— Chapman

54 minutes to kickoff

Just a little pregame pro action:

Atlanta Falcons (and former Sooners) Billy Bowman and Kendal Daniels are on the sideline at Vince Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium. Four-time national champion Jayda Coleman is also in the house, with Bowman.

So is former Atlanta Hawks (and former Sooner) guard Trae Young.

— John E. Hoover

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