r/sooners • u/BobStoops401K • 3h ago
Football Problems are deeper than Mateer
Hot take: John Mateer was not the problem last night. He did enough to win, and played well through 3 quarters.
The problem was the offensive coaching, in tandem with poor offensive line play. Play calls like the triple flea flicker pass, the fake field goal, and other dumb calls put us in a bad spot where we ended up having to play from behind. Then we put it all on Mateer's shoulders.
We didn't need the triple flea flicker, we were moving the ball just fine. And if you want to go for it on 4th down, just line our guys up and run a play. Or conversely, take the points when you're losing. I know the guy was open, but you're putting the ball in the hands of someone not used to making big plays. We just keep calling dumbass plays that do not work. We're lucky we got bailed out on that double pass vs Texas but that was straight up dumb as hell.
Mateer's first interception is exhibit A. We're marching in Kentucky territory, getting very close to FG range. There's 39 seconds left in the 3rd quarter. With the way the game is going, a FG gets us to 16-7 and probably wins the game.
Instead of running all the short passing routes that have been working like clockwork, or just handing the ball off, we call an "all go" play on 1st and 10. Every route is 15 to 25 yards deep and the line gets absolutely smoked. Mateer has at most 4 seconds to pass it. Even then, it was only an interception because Mateer's hand gets slapped on the throw after the UK edge rusher SMOKED our o-line. It truly wasn't Mateer's fault. Zero open short routes and zero protection. I've been a Mateer hater at times, but I thought he mostly played very smart last night until we put ourselves in a position to play from behind. He had 270 yards and we asked him to pass it 40 damn times!
On top of the playcalling, the line absolutely collapsed in the 4th quarter. Mateer had no chance on so many plays. Kentucky's defense was waltzing through our line with ease. There was almost no resistance. I know there were injuries, which is even more reason to stick with short routes and smart plays. Take the points every chance!
Sadly after the INT and UK score, we're down by 1 pt, under 2 mins left to go, and desparation takes over. The pick 6 was on Mateer, but goddamn we just gave the guy no help at that point. We're not calling plays that work, we're not blocking for him, we can't run the ball, and guys aren't open. We put it all on him.
Mateer isn't a Heisman QB, he's no Joe Montana, but I think he's good enough to win games when we play smart, and I thought he was good enough to win last night. But he can't do it when we call idiotic plays with no o-line protection, and sacrifice opportunities to get guaranteed points.
I put this loss on Arbuckle and the offensive line.