Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables' confidence in quarterback John Mateer is starting to seem more like denial.
Venables stuck with the turnover-prone Mateer when just about everyone else around college football questioned why he was still the Sooners' QB1, and that unwavering confidence paid off last week, when Mateer was a hero who led OU on a game-winning drive to upset No. 1 Texas in the Red River Rivalry.
That performance felt like what was needed for Mateer to get his swagger back, and for three quarters against No. 15 Kentucky on Saturday in Norman, he was strutting with it. But when Mateer's team needed him the most in the final two minutes, he did exactly what has made most OU fans lose all confidence in him.
Down 14-13 with 1:17 left, Mateer had a chance to be a hero again, but instead, he threw an egregious pick-six. But even then, he got a second chance to redeem himself, just this time down eight points. His second try ended nearly the same way, though, with his third interception of the game, and this one concluded the Sooners' 21-13 loss to drop to 3-3.
OU fans collectively thought the same thing during each interception: Same ole' John Mateer. Venables was asked during the postgame press conference if he also viewed the performance in the same way.
"I don't," Venables said. "I saw improvement. I thought he did a really good job most of the game and played well, and gave us an opportunity to win. It's not gonna be perfect. But I thought he battled his butt off.
"I thought until the very end there, with whatever it was, you know, just a couple of minutes left to go in the game, had a poor decision on a curl route there, but, again, the tipped ball -- I gotta see exactly what happened. But other than that, he did a lot of really good stuff today that we can, I think, have confidence from."
John Mateer's turnovers are becoming a problem only a change can fix
Mateer ultimately completed 60% of his 40 passes for 270 yards and a touchdown. However, those three interceptions, especially the two late ones, erased any good he did the rest of the game. Venables said that Mateer gave the Sooners "an opportunity to win," but it was also Mateer who threw that opportunity away.
There's never any reason to bench a player because of a bad day, but this is who Mateer is all the time. He's responsible for nine of the Sooners' 13 turnovers this season. He has seven interceptions compared to nine touchdowns.
Last week against Texas was actually the outlier. In a tied game in the fourth quarter against Michigan in Week 2, Mateer threw an interception that set the Wolverines up on OU's six-yard line for the game-winning touchdown.
He lost the game even sooner against Georgia in Week 4, when he turned the ball over in three straight possessions to result in the Bulldogs' 28-0 halftime lead. Mateer still never left the game, even though Venables and offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle discussed the possibility.
After each of those performances, Venables stuck with Mateer as the Sooners' QB1 and proclaimed how much confidence he still had in the fifth-year senior. It was also hard to blame Venables because he didn't really have any other option.
Behind Mateer are two inexperienced players in Mercer transfer Whitt Newbauer and freshman Bowe Bentley. Mateer has also been playing behind a porous offensive line that's been decimated by injuries even more now, and with no running game to rely on. That's not a situation a quarterback without a meaningful FBS snap can succeed in and get a good start to their career with.
With all of that said, Mateer is also no longer an option. We all know what OU has in Mateer, so at least solve the mystery of what Newbauer or Bentley are capable of. The longer Venables has confidence in Mateer, the less confidence the fan base will have in him leading this program.
Add us as a preferred source on Google