Oklahoma-New Mexico: Stock Report

Sooner Nation booed their team voraciously on Saturday night as Oklahoma delivered more mistakes, more sloppy play and more uninspired coaching against New Mexico.

The Sooners were a 22-point favorite, according to BetMGM, but led by just one point at halftime in what became a tense, 14-6 victory.

After an uninspired loss at Michigan last week and Saturday night’s messy performance against New Mexico, Oklahoma now faces arguably the two best teams in the nation in back-to-back games.

Anyone who favored the Sooners in the preseason to challenge for a national championship or a playoff spot or a 10-win season now might want to adjust their idea of what a successful 2026 campaign looks like.

No. 2 Georgia (3-0) awaits next Saturday in Athens and is on an all-time, record-setting scoring pace. No. 1 Texas (3-0) will be in the tunnel when OU comes out of the Cotton Bowl locker room in Dallas two weeks hence.

The Sooners slopped their way through Saturday night’s home game with the Lobos — a squad missing its starting quarterback and down to playing three QBs — and clearly have a lot to fix before squaring up with the Bulldogs and the Longhorns.

While the OU defense was adequate, the offense was a disaster, the special teams were a catastrophe and the coaching made one odd decision after another.

In a stretch of six quarters of Michigan and UNM, the Sooners scored 17 points on 17 drives, averaged just 2.9 yards per rush and threw three interceptions.

At the end of a miserable first half, the OU offense topped itself for ineptitude.

The Sooners began their final drive with one timeout and 1:43 on the clock and ended up with zero points.

John Mateer — who threw an interception that resulted in a New Mexico field goal on his previous possession — completed two short throws for a first down, got an offsides penalty that produced another first down and hooked up with Rocky Beers for 12 yards and another first.

But then, with no timeouts and 58 seconds on the clock, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle called back-to-back running plays to Xavier Robinson. The first one picked up 9 yards with 39 seconds left, but the second was stoned for no gain with just 23 seconds to go.

Mateer spiked the ball with 3 seconds left to bring on Tate Sandell for a 41-yard field goal, but Sandell shanked the kick badly to the right as time expired.

Arbuckle, Brent Venables and the offense apparently gave no consideration to the possibility of scoring a touchdown on the drive, and they ended up settling for nothing.

Georgia and Texas no doubt took notice.

Here is the OU stock report for Saturday’s game.

DOWN: Offensive line

Early passing by the Oklahoma offense did little to loosen the Lobos’ defensive structure against the run.
New Mexico didn’t feel particularly threatened through the air because felt they could contain the OU ground game — and they did.
On their first 15 rushing attempts, the Sooners gained just 24 yards — an average of 1.6 yards per carry. QB John Mateer ran it six times (for 7 yards) and RB Lloyd Avant got 5 carries (15 yards).
Oklahoma’s offensive line — Ryan Fodje, Eddy Pierre-Louis, Jake Maikkula, Noah Best/Heath Ozaeta and E’Marion Harris (left to right) — couldn’t clear any space in the run game and also gave up some early pressures in pass protection.
New Mexico brought in an experienced, mature defense who played like it against an error-prone OU offense.
In the first half, OU averaged just 2.9 yards per carry, and the offensive line was hit with three of the Sooners' four offensive penalties (two false starts and a holding).

UP: DT David Stone

After a week of criticism, Oklahoma junior defensive tackle David Stone put on a dominating performance against UNM, with eight tackles, half a sack and two tackles for loss in arguably his best game as a Sooner.
In the first half alone, Stone dropped Lobo ball carriers for gains of 1, 3, 0, -1 and -9 yards. In the third quarter, he made stops for gains of 1 and 3 yards.
New Mexico, trailing 14-6, had one final shot in the red zone, but Stone dropped Scottre Humphrey for a 1-yard loss on fourth down.

DOWN: Special teams

Doug Deakin’s special teams units were great in the first two games, but stumbled repeatedly against the Lobos.
In the first quarter, Oklahoma roughed the punter on the same play that Isaiah Sategna muffed the catch.
In the second quarter, Grayson Miller dropped a punt snap on the goal line — but then was able to gather the ball and kick it away 45 yards.
Then at the end of the first half, Tate Sandell hit easily the worst ball of his OU career, a terrible shank to the right of a 41-yard field goal.
In the third quarter, OU was hit with a delay of game penalty when a player ran onto the punt unit at the last second.

UP: LB Owen Heinecke

With senior Kip Lewis out and junior James Nesta getting his first career start, there was a lot on senior Owen Heinecke’s shoulders.
And he delivered.
Heinecke tied stone for the team lead with eight total tackles, five solos and 1 1/2 tackles for loss, including a huge sack late in the third quarter.

DOWN: QB John Mateer

QB John Mateer’s first pass — the third play of the night — was intercepted by UNM’s Tavian Combs.
Mateer tried to throw across the middle to Isaiah Sategna, but his throw was late and behind Sategna and was easily picked off.
After that, Mateer completed his next eight passes for 93 yards, but then he overthrew Elijah Thomas deep over the middle, and his next throw was intercepted as well, this time on a short sideline pass that drifted between Parker Livingstone and Xavier Robinson and was picked off by Frankie Edwards.
Venables said at halftime that it was supposed to be a screen to Livingstone and Robinson wasn’t supposed to be in the vicinity.
Mateer started the second half a bit better, finding Sategna wide open deep down the middle of a coverage bust for a 53-yard touchdown that gave Oklahoma a 14-6 lead.
Mateer finished 19-of-26 for 238 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and ran the football 10 times for 17 yards.

UP: TE Hayden Hansen

Florida tight end transfer Hayden Hansen caught back-to-back passes on OU’s first touchdown drive, the latter of which resulted in a 29-yard touchdown on which he broke four tackles over the final 15 yards.
Hansen finished with three catches for 49 yards, while fellow tight end and Colorado State transfer Rocky Beers caught two passes for 34 yards.

DOWN: DB Markel Ford

Freshman safety Markel Ford was on the coverage on New Mexico’s biggest play of the first half, a 40-yard completion down the middle from Toa Fa’avae to tight end Cade Keith.

UP and DOWN: DB Reggie Powers

Junior safety/cheetah Reggie Powers missed a tackle on a fourth-and-1 play in the third quarter after OU had taken a 14-6 lead. But then on the next play, Powers came up with a quarterback sack for a loss of 13.
Powers also forced the runner inside on fourth down to end New Mexico's last scoring threat. David Stone cleaned up that play when he tackled Scottre Humphrey for a 1-yard loss.
Powers finished with five tackles and now has two quarterback sacks on the season.

DOWN: Wide receivers

With senior transfer Trell Harris out for the foreseeable future with a lacerated internal organ suffered last week at Michigan, the OU receiver corps was uneven at best.
Isaiah Sategna was good with 101 yards on six catches and the 53-yard touchdown to open the third quarter, but Parker Livingstone caught just two passes for 20 yards, and Elijah Thomas had one catche for 9 yards.
Mateer threw a handful of passes that could have been caught but New Mexico’s defensive backs won almost every one of those matchups.

UP: DE P.J. Adebawore

Senior defensive end P.J. Adebawore continues to have an impactful season, this time with four tackles and 1 1/2 quarterback sacks.
Adebawore now leads the team with 2 1/2 sacks this season.

UP: S Peyton Bowen

Senior safety Peyton Bowen was having a mostly quiet night when he exploded on back-to-back plays midway through the fourth quarter, then added another.
On first down, he brought down Fa’avae on a solo tackle for a 2-yard gain, then sacked Fa’avae for an 8-yard loss. Three plays later, Bowen teamed with Heinecke as they dropped Kiefer Sibley for a 2-yard loss.
He also broke up two passes on the night, but then — on the same fourth-quarter drive — was flagged for pass interference on a third-and-8 incompletion that gave UNM a first down at the OU 25.

* Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
* If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

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