All Sooners

Oklahoma-Auburn: OU Stock Report

The Sooners welcomed back old QB Jackson Arnold with 10 sacks, but just like last year's meeting on The Plains, Saturday's game came down to drama in the final minutes.
John Hoover|
Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Isaiah Sategna
Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Isaiah Sategna | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

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Oklahoma Sooners

It looks like Oklahoma might have the best defensive line in the Southeastern Conference after all. Maybe even in the nation.

Oklahoma opened Southeastern Conference play this season a little like they opened last season: with an uninspired offensive performance in a home game hyped up by the return of a former Sooner quarterback.

Last year was a loss to Josh Heupel and Tennessee.

This year, it was Jackson Arnold and Auburn who filled up Memorial Stadium and created plenty of angst among Sooner Nation.

In the end, it was Oklahoma's formidable defensive line that that crushed Arnold's comeback story with three straight big hits, two quarterback sacks and a safety as OU came away from Saturday's showdown with a 24-17 thriller.

No. 11-ranked Oklahoma improved to 4-0 on the season and 1-0 in SEC play, while No. 22 Auburn fell to 3-1.

OU compiled a school-record 10 quarterback sacks against their former QB.

Arnold took the Tigers on an impressive scoring drive against the OU defense midway through the fourth quarter — 14 plays, 75 yards, nearly eight minutes off the clock — to give Auburn a 17-16 lead with 7:08 to play.

But it was John Mateer who responded with a six-play, 75-yard drive to take a 22-17 lead with 4:54 left, which ended with Mateer's own 9-yard touchdown run.

From there, after two Auburn offensive penalties pushed the Tigers back toward the end zone, Arnold was dropped for no gain by David Stone, then sacked hard by Gracen Halton, then sacked again by R Mason Thomas in the end zone for a safety that gave the Sooners a seven-point lead and the football with 1:06 to play.

Arnold had largely outplayed Mateer before Mateer's late go-ahead drive. Arnold finished 21-of-32 for 220 yards and a touchdown through the air. Mateer was 24-of-36 for 271 yards with a TD pass and 29 yards rushing and a touchdown on the ground.

With Oklahoma's running game failing to launch yet again, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle has some things to work on next week during the open date. After that, Oklahoma takes on Kent State, followed by the annual showdown with Texas.

But so does head coach and defensive coordinator Brent Venables. The Sooner defense, so dominant through their first three games, piled up 10 quarterback sacks and tormented Arnold with pressure all day. OU didn’t yield much other than a couple of Arnold deep balls and a 4-yard jet sweep touchdown by Malcolm Simmons in the fourth quarter to take the lead. 

But in a game filled with mistakes (even by the officials), the Sooners' greatest weakness all day was shabby pass coverage. Still, OU finished with 303 total yards, while Auburn had just 287.

Here is the OU-Auburn stock report.

DOWN, then UP: QB John Mateer

Mateer was billed all week as the “odds-on-favorite to win the Heisman,” which is absurd as Heisman voters won’t cast a ballot until December. But yes, per various sports books, the Sooners’ new quarterback was listed at the top of the Heisman odds. Somebody has to be, and Mateer has been great.

But Mateer’s star came down to earth a bit on Saturday as he battled inconsistent throws and was unable to break free on the ground.

In the first quarter, Mateer missed what might have been a TD pass to Jaren Kanak on a third down and instead checked down to Carson Kent, who couldn’t hold on to a throw that was short of the first down anyway.

In the second quarter, in a moment that reminded too many fans of Arnold’s worst moments of 2024, Mateer inexplicably lost a fumble pulling a read-option. Just dropped it.

Mateer was just 8-of-16 for 104 yards in the first half and rushed for just 10 yards on seven carries, but he saved his best for last with the game-winning touchdown drive.

DOWN: Oklahoma’s running game

No doubt about it, Auburn’s defense looks stout.

But the bottom line is a familiar one: Oklahoma can’t run the football.

The Sooners gained just 19 rushing yards on 16 attempts in the first half, with seven carries by Mateer and one by wideout Isaiah Sategna. The final tally was 32 rushing yards on 26 carries.

That put more pressure on Mateer as a passer, as well as OU’s re-reshuffled offensive line, which only gave up one sack, to pass protect.

DOWN: Oklahoma Cornerbacks

In the first quarter, Gentry Williams got beat deep for 46 yards coming off the Auburn goal line (safety Peyton Bowen also trailed Coleman on the play as Arnold out-threw the Sooners’ coverage over the middle).

Williams later passed off an Auburn wideout to safety Michael Boganowski, who was late coming over to help, but Arnold overthrew what would have likely been another long completion and possibly a touchdown.

Then in the second quarter, Courtland Guillory got beat deep by Coleman coming off the goal line for a 40-yard completion.

Guillory was also flagged for pass interference in the end zone as he didn’t turn and play the football on a fade to Coleman. That play set up Auburn for a first-and-goal at the 2, and two plays later, Coleman outjumped Guillory for another catch, this time in the end zone as the Tigers punched it in to tie it at 10-10 with 1:08 to play before halftime.

Oklahoma came in ranked No. 2 in the nation in pass defense, allowing just 84.7 yards per game. But the Sooners gave up deep throws of 46 and 40 yards, and Coleman himself had 88 yards by halftime.

Devon Jordan nearly added to the misery late in the third quarter when he was beaten by Coleman on a deep ball down the right sideline, but instead of an easy 33-yard touchdown, Arnold overthrew him as Coleman dove at the goal line.

Early in the fourth quarter, Jacobe Johnson, who didn’t get a ton of snaps, gave way too big a cushion on a quick slant for 9 yards on first-and-10.

A few plays later, on a double-pass on third-and-11, a deep ball to Coleman at the goal line was high, but Gentry Williams — who was beaten by Coleman by nearly five yards — got away with a pretty blatant pass interference penalty as Coleman tried to come down with the ball. 

Then on fourth-and-11, Arnold scrambled away from pressure to pick up the first down with a 16-yard run. 

Williams nearly committed pass interference two plays later on a deep throw to the end zone, but his timing to break up the pass was perfect — if not a little lucky, as he never turned to defend the ball.

Then, on a fourth-and-6, Guillory was flagged for defensive holding — grabbing Coleman’s jersey on a ball that was thrown out of bounds. That set up Simmons' go-ahead TD run.

Eventually, the Sooners' second-half changes took hold, as Coleman had zero catches in the second half.

UP: DT Jayden Jackson

Jackson, a sophomore, lit up the Auburn offensive line with 2 1/2 quarterback sacks in the first half alone.

Much of the first half, Jackson was simply unblockable.

Jackson nearly had another sack on the above-mentioned holding penalty by Guillory in the fourth quarter, but a holding penalty was not called against his blocker. Jackson finished the day with five tackles.

UP: DT David Stone

In the second quarter, Stone, another sophomore and former high school teammates with Jackson, executed a twist and blew past his blocker with a wide open lane to Arnold. He charged full speed at his old QB and, as Arnold tried to scamper away, hammered him down for a loss.

It was one of seven QB sacks in the first half by the OU defense.

Stone also chased down Arnold coming off the goal line in the final minute to set up the game-winning safety. Gracen Halton followed that with his own sack of Arnold, and then Thomas buried the Tigers' hopes with a safety on the next play.

VOLATILE, then UP: WR Isaiah Sategna

Quite a busy day for the Arkansas transfer as he caught two passes for 53 yards in the first half alone — one a 29-yard grab prior to Mateer's fumble and one a 24-yard touchdown. The scoring play was disputed by Auburn coach Hugh Freeze and by ESPN rules analyst Matt Austin, who said Sategna faked subbing out but then stayed on the field close to the sideline before running his wide open touchdown route. That’s against the rules, Austin said, and Freeze clearly agreed. 

Sategna was also the central figure in the game’s biggest officiating decision. He opened the game with a fumble that was returned 64 yards for an Auburn touchdown, but officials determined that replay showed Sategna never had possession of the football before losing it on the tackle, negating the touchdown.

Sategna was also the culprit on a bad play to end the first half. He lined up inside Deion Burks on the right side, then ran a square out while Burks came in on a slant. It’s a common rub play, but officials determined Sategna got a little too much of a chip on the defensive back covering Burks. Instead of a 38-yard catch-and-run by Burks that could have set up a field goal for a 13-10 lead, the penalty resulted in a 15-yard penalty and wiped out the big gainer. 

With 5:12 left in the game, Sategna reeled in a 31-yard catch on the sideline, but it was ruled incomplete as the defender stripped the football out at the last second. Of course it went to review, where it was determined Sategna had the football in his possession when he stepped out of bounds, and the catch gave him a career-high nine catches for 127 yards. Mateer scored the go-ahead touchdown on the next play for a 22-17 lead.

Sategna was also busy with two punt returns for 4 yards and also got credit for a rushing attempt for minus-4 yards. Sategna finished with a career-high nine catches for 127 yards.

UP: LT Logan Howland

Got the start at left tackle when coaches determined he was a better option than freshman Michael Fasusi, who missed last week’s win at Temple with a sprained ankle. Fasusi came in and played the second and third series, but Howland did well enough that he returned to finish the game.

UP: QB Jackson Arnold

Yeah, we know, he plays for Auburn. But Arnold showed some real maturity, focus, grit and toughness hanging in there through seven — SEVEN! — quarterback sacks in the first half. OU ended up with a school-record 10 sacks, but Arnold never stopped competing and now gets even more respect from his old team and from the fan base.

Arnold has some talent around him this year and is actually being coached. You can visually see his new confidence and mental progress this year.

DOWN: The Zebras

Folks from both fan bases can decry questionable calls made against both teams, from Sategna’s fumble to Sategna’s touchdown to Sategna’s offensive pass interference to Sategna's sideline catch to set up the game-winning TD. (That felt weird to type. Poor Sategna.)

Missed pass interference calls and missed holding calls impacted both teams, but the players and coaches seemed to do a nice job fighting through the inconsistencies.

UP: R Mason Thomas

After sitting out the first half due to suspension for a targeting penalty at Temple last week, Thomas exploded on Arnold with a thunderous sack on the second play after halftime — his first sack of the season.

Arnold dropped back as Thomas beat his man on the left side by dipping his inside shoulder, but Arnold had zero awareness that anyone was coming. Thomas leaped and pounced on Arnold’s back for the Sooners’ eighth sack of the day — one short of the school record.

Finally, it was Thomas who finished the game strong by dropping Arnold in the end zone with a minute to play. Coming off the right side this time, he bull-rushed the right tackle int the backfield and, despite help from the running back, easily took down Arnold.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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