Oklahoma Sooners quarterback John Mateer just channeled his inner Baker Mayfield in a hilarious way after beating Texas
The Oklahoma Sooners beat the Texas Longhorns in the Red River Rivalry game on Saturday, and John Mateer was great.
The Oklahoma Sooners beat the Texas Longhorns 27-24 in the Red River rivalry at the Cotton Bowl, and they did it in walk-off fashion. Kicker Tate Sandell drilled a field goal in the final seconds to seal OU’s comeback win.
The first half wasn’t pretty. However, the Sooners did enough to keep the game close and give themselves a chance in the second half. Quarterback John Mateer took that chance and ran with it.
John Mateer’s stat line doesn’t tell the whole story
The box score doesn’t make Mateer’s day jump off the page. He finished 18-of-26 passing for 155 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions, with a QBR of 50.3. He didn’t do much damage on the ground either, finishing with 12 carries for minus-6 yards.
But the numbers miss what happened after halftime. Mateer was a completely different quarterback in the second half than he was in the first. Some of the best football he has played in a long time came on that final drive, and you could make a case for the final two drives.
He controlled the offense when Oklahoma needed it most. He also made two great throws to Isaiah Sategna along both sidelines. Sategna got his feet down inbounds on both catches and moved the ball downfield, setting up Sandell for the game-winner. That is the version of Mateer the Sooners need every week. It doesn’t have to show up in a massive stat line. It has to show up when the game is on the line, and against Texas, it did.
Mateer plants the flag, and the Baker Mayfield comparisons follow
As big as the win was, fans will remember the moment most after the game. Mateer channeled his inner Baker Mayfield. Everyone remembers Mayfield, the former Sooners quarterback who now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, planting the OU flag in the middle of the field at Ohio State. Mateer’s version came against Texas at the Cotton Bowl instead, but the spirit was the same.
A video of Mateer is going viral. In it, he plants the OU flag in the Oklahoma end zone just as Texas players walk past him toward the locker room. He waves the flag around before planting it, with Longhorns players and some of their staff right next to him. Then Mateer throws the horns down as the Texas players walk right by him and off the field.
He wasn’t the only one celebrating that way, either. Sandell, the kicker who walked off the field, planted the flag as well. To be fair, Mateer isn’t exactly playing football like Mayfield right now. Still, that is the kind of thing Sooners fans loved seeing from Mayfield, and it is fun to see that personality come out from Mateer.
That is especially true after a win this big against your biggest rival. Regardless, Oklahoma needs to regain its composure and get back to work. Kentucky is up next, and the Sooners still have a lot of football left to play.
