Oklahoma Sooners’ Ben Arbuckle and John Mateer have finally done what the offense has begged for, and they’re completely different things
The Oklahoma Sooners had their best offensive game of the year on Saturday against Mississippi State, and John Mateer and Ben Arbuckle had much better games.
The Oklahoma Sooners may have played their best offensive game this season against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Yet they still left so many points on the board. Still, we saw the offense do some things we should have been seeing from this team. And it all comes back to John Mateer and Ben Arbuckle.
Throughout the first half of the season, many complaints have come in about Arbuckle. Most have to do with the run game and the play calling. Some of that is going away from the hot hand in Lloyd Avant, and some of that is going away from the run completely.
Not to mention, there have been times when Arbuckle hasn’t gotten the ball to his best player, Isaiah Sategna, as often as he should. Sometimes you have to manufacture touches for those guys, and they haven’t done that well this year.
On the other hand, John Mateer has finally done what we’ve asked him to do for weeks. Mateer played a nearly flawless game and actually threw the ball downfield. And hey, he didn’t connect on them all. But we asked him to throw it, and he did. The offense was clicking, and those two reasons are why—Mateer and Arbuckle finally did what the offense has been begging for.
John Mateer and Ben Arbuckle have their best game of the year
Over the last few weeks, Arbuckle has moved away from the run game. And he’s taken his best runner, Lloyd Avant, out of the run game at questionable times. At the start of the game, you thought he might overdo it. OU runs three straight run plays with Avant, forcing them to settle for a field goal after getting stuffed on third down.
Then, in the third quarter, you look up, and the Sooners have their best running game of the year. OU finished with 186 rushing yards on 39 attempts, before the two kneel-downs. Yes, 39 carries, which shows they tried to stick with the run. They had a season-high in rushing, and Avant and Blaylock combined for 126 rushing yards on 25 carries, including Blaylock’s big 47-yarder.
Arbuckle also emphasized getting the ball to Sategna early and often. One of the first plays of the game was a 12-yard reverse to Sategna in the run game. Then, they tried their best to keep one defender on Sategna for most of the game. They isolated him at times and used that to their advantage.
John Mateer has maybe the best game of his Oklahoma career
As for Mateer, we have asked the guy to throw the ball deep all year long. Just throw it. Then the defense has to account for another threat. If you don’t even throw it, they don’t defend it, and they can defend everything else much better. He not only threw it deep, but he also completed several.
Of course, the big ones to Sategna stand out the most. Sure, some of them were busted plays, but he still threw the ball. That matters. Mateer finished 22/29 with 283 passing yards and two passing touchdowns. He should have had three TDs, but Rocky Beers dropped one wide-open in the end zone. He also added 37 rushing yards, including a gutsy third-down run to seal the game. What a game from 10.
