Who's Up, Who's Down in Oklahoma's Stock Report vs. Missouri?

And just like that, Oklahoma is one step from returning to the College Football Playoff.

The Sooners handled their business on Saturday at Memorial Stadium, taking down No. 23-ranked Missouri 17-6.

“It’s not pretty,” OU coach Brent Venables said in his postgame TV interview with ESPN’s Molly McGrath, “but this ain’t a beauty contest.”

While the OU offense struggled again versus the ferocious Missouri defense, the Sooners’ own defense — which faced some tension early — flexed its muscles, turned up the heat and yielded almost nothing after the first quarter as Oklahoma (9-2 overall, 5-2 SEC) won its third game in a row.

Standing between the Sooners and their first College Football Playoff berth since 2019 is next week’s season-finale against unranked LSU. Kickoff is 2:30 p.m. at Owen Field, and if OU wins and finishes with a 10-2 regular season record against one of the nation’s most difficult schedules, the Sooners will likely host a playoff game on Dec. 19 or 20.

“They’re hungry,” Venables said. “Not satisfied. They know we haven’t done anything. We’re 9-2 now. This stadium, this building, the championships that are represented here, 27 seasons of 11-plus wins, incredibly high standards and expectations. And our guys want some of that. They want to be one of the people at the table.”

Here is the OU stock report from Saturday’s win over Missouri:

VOLATILE: QB John Mateer

Mateer has been struggling to see the field since October, and he showed that again this time.

In the second quarter, Mateer didn’t see an offside edge rusher and instead of chucking it deep on a free play, he took a safe checkdown.

In the third quarter, he had no idea what to do on third-and-short coming out of a timeout and ended up keeping the ball for a loss. Later in the third, Mateer had decent protection on another third down but couldn’t find anyone open, seemed to panic and got himself sacked.

Mateer’s two first-half touchdown throws, though, were things of beauty. He hit Isaiah Sategna in stride on an 87-yard catch-and-run touchdown, and he stepped in and drove a crisp throw into a tight window for an 8-yard TD to Javonnie Gibson for a 14-3 lead.

He also led the Sooners with 60 yards rushing, which featured a handful of nifty runs, including a third-and-10 scramble for 15 yards in the second quarter to convert a short field into a touchdown pass and 14-3 lead.

UP: WR Isaiah Sategna

Showed the elite sprinter’s speed on his 87-yard touchdown to turn the game around, running untouched through the Mizzou secondary and outpacing the Tigers’ deepest defensive backs. He finished with three catches for 109 yards (he now has 827 on the season) and simply changed the game.

DOWN: OC Ben Arbuckle

Say what you want about predictable play-calling or too much passing, there was one play that really stood out for OU’s offensive coordinator.

The Sooners got the ball to start the third quarter and faced a third-and-3, but Mateer needed a timeout. The Sooners came out of the stoppage still unsure of what to do as Mateer pulled the ball down, looking for a lane, and ended up keeping it for a loss. That’s a moment that Arbuckle needs to have a plan and fall back on what they practiced and project nothing but confidence, but nobody on the field appeared to know what was happening.

One play Arbuckle called that worked like a charm helped turn the game around. Arbuckle called a pass play with three receivers bunched wide left. Sategna was the inside receiver and started outside, then cut across the middle of the field and was wide open. The result was a thunderbolt — an 87-yard touchdown sprint that put the Sooners up 7-3.

The OU offense finished with just 276 yards (Mizzou had 301).

UP: Peyton Bowen

In addition to more good coverage (he broke up a deep throw over the middle in the third quarter) and sure tackling (he finished with three tackles), Bowen sparked his team with arguably the most important play of the day, sprinting around the edge of the Missouri line and blocking a short field goal. On the next drive, Mateer hit Sategna for the long TD and the doldrums in which OU started the game were over.

UP: CB Eli Bowen

Bowen finished off the Tigers with an interception of QB Beau Pribula, the Sooners’ eighth takeaway in their last four SEC games.

Bowen finished the day with just one tackle,

UP, then DOWN: DB Reggie Powers

It was Powers in the second quarter who made the all-important tackle on a short third-down throw to Kevin Coleman. Coleman caught the ball and turned upfield and seemed to have the edge, but Powers locked on and slung him out of bounds three yards short.

Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz eventually opted for a field goal, which Bowen blocked to spark the offensive outburst.

But in the fourth quarter, Powers unnecessarily launched himself into a targeting penalty at the end of a third-down incompletion. That kept Mizzou’s drive alive, disqualified him from the game and will suspend him from the first half of next week’s season finale against LSU.

UP: DT David Stone

Stone was a thorn in the side of Mizzou’s offensive line all day, constantly resetting the line of scrimmage in the Tiger backfield and agitating his blockers to the point they began piling onto him after some plays. He finished with six tackles and a QB hurry.

UP: DT Gracen Halton

In the fourth quarter, with Mizzou facing a third-and-long, Halton split a double team and grabbed Pribula, allowing Taylor Wein to help finish him off with another sack.

It was the 10th consecutive third down on which the Tigers failed to convert a first down (that streak reached 12).

Halton finished with seven tackles, two tackles for loss, his half of that QB sack and one QB hurry.

UP: DE Taylor Wein

Wein got a half-sack with Halton and also finished of Pribula to end a drive in the second quarter. He finished with four tackles and 1 1/2 TFLs.

Wein got poked in the eye midway through the fourth quarter and temporarily came out of the game but was able to quickly return.

Oklahoma finished with eight tackles for loss and four sacks.

DOWN: DE R Mason Thomas

OU’s best defensive player couldn’t go and missed his second game in a row after a thigh injury against Tennessee. His big-play presence was missed.

DT Damonic Williams

Williams came into the game with just half a sack (at South Carolina), but was disruptive all day, starting with his first solo sack of the season in the first quarter.