Oklahoma Sooners HC Brent Venables just stood on all ten when it comes to a decision he’s making that won’t sit well with some
Brent Venables and the Oklahoma Sooners will stick with quarterback John Mateer as the starter.
The Oklahoma Sooners have their quarterback answer heading into the Red River Rivalry. After a bye-week practice on Tuesday, coach Brent Venables confirmed what many fans were hoping he’d reconsider. When asked about the quarterback situation, Venables kept it simple.
“John’s our starting quarterback,” Venables told reporters Wednesday. “John is as tough as they come… Carries a lot of weight, but what makes it easy to believe in John is just how he shows up every single day. He’s the same guy. How he works, how he competes, how he leads, how he responds.”
That settles the discussion for now, but the conversation around John Mateer’s performance is far from over. The Sooners quarterback has been one of the worst signal-callers in the country through the early portion of the 2026 season.
His stat line reads 88 passing yards, 8 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, and 2 fumbles lost on a 66% completion rate. Those numbers don’t seem catastrophic on paper, but what Oklahoma fans are seeing on the field is much worse than what the stats suggest.
Last year, Mateer’s first season at Oklahoma, he finished with 2,800 passing yards, 14 passing touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and a 62% completion percentage. On the ground, he added 431 rushing yards and 8 rushing touchdowns. None of those numbers were particularly impressive for an SEC quarterback, and the Sooners had one of the worst offenses in the conference because of it.
This year has been even worse. Mateer has just 76 rushing yards so far, and he has a long way to go to match even last season’s disappointing offensive output. Oklahoma likely has the worst offense in the SEC right now, and the results on the field reflect that reality.
The Georgia game raised real questions
The quarterback discussion became unavoidable after the Sooners’ 41-13 loss to Georgia. Oklahoma fell behind 28-0 at halftime, and fans began calling for Whit Newbauer or even Bo Bentley to get reps behind center. Venables admitted the coaching staff talked about making a change at halftime.
They ultimately stuck with Mateer, but his performance did nothing to quiet the doubters. He finished that game 25-for-34 for 231 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception, and 2 fumbles lost with a QBR of 49.8.
The Red River Rivalry carries extra baggage for Mateer. Last season, he injured his thumb earlier in the year, and his first game back was against Texas. He played terribly. Texas has had Mateer’s number, and the Sooners will need a dramatically different version of their quarterback if they want to compete in Dallas next weekend.
If the game against Texas goes as poorly as the Georgia loss, Oklahoma may explore other quarterback options later in the season. For now, Venables is giving Mateer the bye week to get things right. Whether that’s enough time to turn around one of the worst stretches of quarterback play in the SEC remains to be seen.
