Quarterback John Mateer and the Oklahoma offense rolled up over 500 yards of offense while the Sooner defense limited Temple to just 104 total yards in an overpowering 42-3 OU road win on Saturday.
Any concerns that 13th-ranked Oklahoma would suffer a letdown after its huge win over then-No. 15 Michigan a week ago were dismissed early on with the Sooners scoring on their first four offensive possessions and taking a 28-3 advantage into halftime.
True freshman running back Tory Blaylock, who had his first 100-yard rushing game, ran for a pair of first-half touchdowns and Jovantae Barnes added a short scoring run of his own to start off the Oklahoma scoring. Transfer kicker Tate Sandell added a couple of field goals, one for 52 yards and another from 29-yards out, to finish off the Sooner scoring in the first 30 minutes.
While the Sooners were putting up points in their first four possessions, Temple was forced to punt on its first six offensive possessions. The Owls' only score of the game came on a 34-yard field goal following an interception thrown by Mateer at the OU 13-yard line with 2:33 remaining in the first half. Those were the first points surrendered by the Oklahoma defense in the opening half this season.
Oklahoma's 515 yards of offense was the Sooners' best performance through three games this season and featured a balanced attack with 287 passing yards and a season-best 228 on the ground. Besides Blaylock's 100 rushing yards, Mateer added 63 more, including a 51-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
Gonna Fly Now 🎶 pic.twitter.com/r2jRmEtD1G
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) September 13, 2025
Mateer completed 20 of 32 passes for 282 yards and a touchdown, and sophomore backup Michael Hawkins Jr. took over in the fourth quarter and completed one of three passes for five yards, along with 25 yards rushing on six carries. Arkansas transfer Isaiah Sategna caught seven passes for 97 yards, and converted linebacker Jaren Kanak, now playing tight end for the Sooners, had another big game with four receptions for 86 yards.
Sooner wide receiver Keontez Lewis was injured on the interception thrown by Mateer in the second quarter and did not return.
Here are three prime takeaways from OU's 42-3 runaway over Temple:
OU offense definitely much improved, but defense is playing at another level
The last time an Oklahoma defense allowed fewer the 200 yards of offense to an opponent was in 2019 in a 76-0 whitewash of Western Carolina.
The Owls managed just 63 total yards in the first half and just 12 yards on the ground. Temple managed just seven first downs for the entire game and was just 3-of-16 in third-down conversions. Oklahoma went into Week 3 ranked eighth in the country in third-down conversion defense. Through three games, OU's three opponents were 6-of-41 on third down, which is a Sooner success ratio of 85%.
For the game, Temple had more three-and-outs on offense (10) than first downs (7). The Oklahoma defense completely shut down the Temple offense, which had entered the game averaging over 500 yards per game. The Sooners recorded four sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
John Mateer continues to lead charge for renewed Sooner offense
For the third straight game, quarterback John Mateer accounted for at least 345 yards of offense. He passed for 282 yards against Temple and gained another 63 yards on the ground, totaling 345 of the Sooners' 515 offensive yards against Temple.
Mateer threw for a touchdown and ran for another score to extend the nation's current longest streak of at least one passing and one rushing touchdown to nine games.
Through three games to start the 2025 season, the Washington State transfer has completed 68% of his passes for 944 yards and five touchdowns. His passing yards are the third-most by an Oklahoma quarterback in his first three games. Josh Heupel had 1,202 passing yards in his first three games in 1999 and Baker Mayfield had 1,062 yards in 2015.
The mystery of what is happening with transfer RB Jaydn Ott lingers on
Tory Blaylock and Jovantae Barnes have solidified themselves as RB1 and RB2, respectively. Blaylock suffered what appeared to have been a shoulder injury after rushing for 42 yards and a touchdown in the season-opening win over Illinois State. His status was uncertain for the Michigan game, but he played in that game, displaying his desire and toughness, and contributed 24 yards on the ground.
Temple was a breakout game for the young freshman, who gained a season-best 100 yards on 14 carries, an average of 7.0 yards per carry, and two touchdowns. Barnes started the game, and although the stat sheet will show just 12 yards on five carries, he had several impactful gains in the early going, including a three-yard run to score OU's opening touchdown.
The bigger question if you're a Sooner fan, though, is what is going on with highly touted Cal transfer Jaydn Ott, who came to Oklahoma in the offseason as the top running back in the Transfer Portal and with the expectation that he was going to be the answer to the Sooners' running game this season?
He battled an ankle injury last season, but in 2023, Ott rumbled for 1,315 yards and 12 touchdowns and also had 169 receiving yards that season.
Ott did not get into the Temple game until late in the fourth quarter. He was the fourth running back used in the game and was not impressive when his opportunity came, gaining just 11 yards on four carries. Through three games, Ott's totals read nine rushing attempts for 17 yards. That's an average of 2.2 yards per carry. Ott is four down on the depth chart, and one-fourth the way through the 2025 season, he looks nothing like a boom and more like a bust.
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