Oklahoma Sooners news: Mateer confirms viral story, Deion Sanders takes shot at kicker and more

John Mateer confirms viral story

Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer confirmed while on "The Hard Count" podcast with On3's J.D. Pickell that the viral story about a Chiptole worker breaking the news that Mateer would play against Texas was actually true.

Back in October after Mateer had surgery on his throwing hand, a message board post on TexAgs.com, a site that covers Texas A&M, went viral after it was shared to X. According to the post from the user "OklahomaSooner Ag," Mateer was at Chipotle in Norman when a worked asked Mateer about his hand injury. Mateer, according to the post, said that he was "100% going to play vs Texas."

Although the story went viral, the message board post was never actually taken seriously or considered fact. However, Mateer revealed it was all actually true.

"That was me not realizing who I can trust and who I can't trust," Mateer said. "Yeah, it was real. I didn't think he would go and tell the whole world about it. It's not my favorite thing somebody's ever done on the other side of what I told them. But that's my fault. I shouldn't say anything like just throwing my business out there. But, yeah, it was real."

Deion Sanders takes shot at Tate Sandell

Speaking of viral Sooners, OU kicker Tate Sandell also did last weekend, and not because of his historical performance against Tennessee, but mostly because of his short pants that ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit kept commenting on during the broadcast.

Herbstreit eventually admitted Sandell can wear whatever he wants if he boots the ball the way he did Saturday night with four makes of over 40 yards. However, for whatever reason, it still really bugged Colorado coach Deion Sanders, whose Buffaloes are 3-6.

Sanders brought up Sandell's pants during Colorado's coaches show on Wednesday and even took a shot at OU's coaches for letting it happen.

“These kids now, you’ve got kids trying to go out there in dern biker shorts,” Sanders said. “Like, what is wrong with you all? Get back in line. Our guys don’t do that. We, as coaches, we respect the dern game. ...

“I can’t. But I don’t understand how us coaches allow it. How did we allow that? I have too much respect for the game. I’m sorry, I really do. That’s why it hurts me right now.”

Sanders said even more, but failed to mention his own son wore a giant watch during pregame warmups or that he himself sometimes wears two golden whistles during games. It's likely Sanders wouldn't care what his own kicker wore of he was considered one of the best in the country like Sandell.

Two-sport freshman Alec Blair makes decision

OU Insider's Brody Lusk first reported Wednesday night that two-sport freshman Alec Blair is no longer on OU's basketball team so he can focus on baseball after signing with the Sooners in 2025 with the intention to play both sports.

It was a shock considering Blair just made his OU debut on Monday night while playing three minutes in the Sooners' season opener. He made a free throw and pulled in a rebound during that short time.

Although it was great news for Skip Johnson and the baseball program, it did put basketball coach Porter Moser in a bind with one less scholarship player and the season already started.