Oklahoma-Georgia: OU Stock Report

ATHENS, GA — Oklahoma’s offensive dysfunction reached a new low on Saturday between the hedges.

Not only the Sooners’ inability to run the football. That was entirely expected — as if OU was somehow going to finally find a running game a third of the way through the season by stepping into the most hostile environment they’ll see all year against arguably the best team on the schedule.

Not only John Mateer’s disastrous fumbles, one of which was returned 85 yards for a touchdown, the other returned 23 yards to set up another Bulldogs’ TD just before halftime. Mateer is Mateer, and he’s going to commit turnovers — sometimes at an alarming rate.

No, the new low established by Brent Venables, Ben Arbuckle and the rest of the Oklahoma offense in a 41-13 loss at No. 2-ranked Georgia came strictly from the sideline and the coaches box.

Wasted timeouts, slow communications, indecisiveness and shaky play-calling all stood out in a disastrous first half for the Sooners.

On Mateer’s second fumble alone, the Sooners tried to draw Georgia’s defense offside but had to burn their final timeout after the two-minute stoppage. Then the BV-BA brain trust decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 43-yard line, and Mateer rolled out and avoided one tackler but then got hammered by another and fumbled, setting the Bulldogs up at the OU 11.

Earlier in the game, a similar level of disorganization shone through, hot and bright as the Georgia sunshine.

OU’s offense burned two timeouts in the first quarter alone. The first was sandwiched between a couple of over-the-middle screen pass-type completions for no gain from Mateer — a strategy not suited for a Georgia defense that pursues with such fanatical effort.

The second timeout was wasted late in the first when the sluggish offense — clearly going nowhere on plays of 1 yard and minus-1 yard — somehow needed a timeout to prevent a delay-of-game penalty. Then, after Mateer’s incomplete pass on third-and-10 sailed into the OU bench on a designed bootleg, the Sooners were slapped with a delay-of-game penalty anyway on fourth down before having to finally punt.

After Arbuckle’s promises last week to try to accumulate passing yards in chunks and opening up the offense with deep shots, Mateer was frequently rushed by the Georgia defense, and he was often either buying time, running for his life or searching for somebody to throw to. When he did throw it, his numbers were pretty good — other than the badly underthrown interception across the middle in the second quarter.

The bottom line is that Oklahoma’s defense will hold on as long as it can against any opponent. The halftime score of 28-0 should have been more like 14-3, or even 14-7 if Mateer just doesn’t deliver a gift-wrapped touchdown.

Yes, the OU defense will be under this kind of pressure all season — but not just because the Sooner offense is failing to score or even get first downs or hold up its end. If the quarterback is literally handing touchdowns to the other team and the coaching staff is unprepared and ill-equipped like this every week, Sooner Nation will be for a long, unpleasant season.

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma defense remained elite against the Bulldogs and their 93,033 reinforcements.

Georgia’s offense managed just two scoring drives in the first half — 11 plays, 79 yards, and 5 plays, 54 yards — and that was it. Going into the fourth quarter, the rest of the Bulldogs’ offensive possessions managed 9 yards, 3 yards, 11 yards, 1 yard, 19 yards, 1 yard, 11 yards and 6 yards.

It wasn't until a 24-yard completion and a 54-yard breakaway touchdown run early in the fourth quarter that Georgia overtook Oklahoma in statistical categories like total yards and first downs. The Bulldogs later piled on a 41-yard completion that set up a field goal and finished off the Sooners' shame.

Here’s the OU stock report for Saturday’s game:

DOWN: QB John Mateer

Mateer’s fumble on the goal line that produced an 85-yard touchdown return by linebacker Chris Cole brought back memories of Rhett Bomar’s fumble that was run back 65 yards by Texas defensive tackle Rodrique Wright in 2005.

But Bomar was a redshirt freshman — and he was actually hit on the play, and hard. Mateer is a fifth-year senior, and he was merely being chased.

Another fumble, and an interception, added to the misery of the fan base, who continue to call for backup Whitt Newbauer. They don’t know anything about Newbauer, but how bad could it get?

Credit to the Georgia secondary for tight coverage (most of the day) and making Mateer hold the football too long, and credit to the UGa front seven for keeping a steady stream of pressure on the Sooner QB.

Mateer finished 21-of-29 for 189 yards, which included a garbage-time touchdown drive and a TD throw to Rocky Beers, who caught seven passes for 73 yards.

UP: DT David Stone

Just five days after dislocating his right kneecap in practice, Oklahoma defensive tackle David Stone was in the starting lineup and playing against the Bulldogs.

He played most of the snaps at either 3-technique or nose tackle, and as the fourth quarter began, he had been credited with two tackles. Stone was still on the field early in the fourth quarter as OU trailed 31-6.

DOWN: Offensive line

Left tackle Michael Fasusi was doing plenty of lower-body work in pregame warmups, but it’s his shoulder that extended his absent streak to three games.

The line consisted of (left-to-right) Ryan Fodje, Heath Ozaeta/Eddy Pierre-Louis, Jake Maikkula, Noah Best and E’Marion Harris.

Against this Georgia defense, they were often overwhelmed. At one point midway through the second quarter, Oklahoma had 124 total yards and 127 passing yards — meaning the Sooners had managed minus-3 rushing yards.

UP: WR Isaiah Sategna

At times, Satenga looked like the only OU player on offense that belongs on an SEC football field.

While his running mates were contributing next to nothing, the Sooners’ best receiver was solid against the ultra-talented Bulldog defense — despite the obvious target on his back.

Sategna finished with 137 all-purpose yards, which included 81 receiving on eight catches.

UP: S Omarion Robinson

Robinson got his first career interception — and the first pick thrown by Georgia QB Gunner Stockton this season — in the third quarter with Georgia having built a 28-0 lead.

Robinson’s pick was a spark for the offense as Mateer ran it twice and found Rocky Beers alone in the left flat for a 17-yard touchdown that cut it to 28-6. (That prompted Venables to go for a 2-point conversion, which failed.)

UP: P Jacob Ulrich

Grayson Miller was the All-SEC punter last year, but the job belonged to Jacob Ulrich on Saturday.

Ulrich, a transfer last year from Kennesaw State (GA) and a native of Dacula, GA, got the start and was excellent, averaging 48.8 yards on six punts, including three 50-yarders.

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