Texas planning for John Mateer to play
Despite Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables saying Saturday night that he's assuming starting quarterback John Mateer will not play in the Red River Rivalry because of a hand injury, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said during his weekly press conference on Monday that the Longhorns are still preparing for Mateer to play.
“We'll plan for Mateer,” Sarkisian said. “We have to. He's a dynamic player. He's the heartbeat of that offense. Everything goes through him."
If Mateer is sidelined for the second game since having surgery on his throwing hand, sophomore Michael Hawkins Jr. will take over at QB after also starting in last year's Red River Rivalry.
“We played against Hawkins last year. He's a much improved player. Like most young players, they get better over time. You can see his improvement for sure," Sarkisian said. “Coach (Ben) Arbuckle has a great scheme that we've got to prepare for. He's a fantastic coach. They tax you a lot of different ways with varying tempos, formations, trick plays, quarterback runs, shot plays. So we've got to prepare for the offense as much as we need to prepare for the quarterback, whichever one it's going to be. It's more about the offense in our world."
Vegas has Sooners as underdogs in Red River Rivalry
The Sooners will go into the Red River Rivalry undefeated and ranked sixth in the country, while Texas is unranked at 3-2, but according to Vegas, the Longhorns are the favorites to win.
As of Monday, FanDuel and BetMGM had the smallest spread with Texas as a 2.5-point favorite. DraftKings set the spread at 3. That's at least a smaller margin than when the Sooners opened as 11.5-point underdogs this summer.
Old Big 12 taking over SEC
Heading into Week 7 of the college football season, it's the old Big 12 carrying the new SEC in 2025.
All at 5-0, only four undefeated teams are left in the SEC, with three coming from the Big 12, including Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas A&M. The other unbeaten team is Ole Miss.
Missouri and Texas A&M left the Big 12 for the SEC in 2012 before OU and Texas followed last year.