Oklahoma QB John Mateer admits viral Chipotle story before Red River Rivalry was real

Between a Chipotle worker breaking national news and a surgeon becoming a viral sensation, it was a time like no other in college football when everyone was waiting to learn if Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer would play in the Red River Rivalry or not just 17 days after getting surgery on his throwing hand.

It wasn't officially confirmed that Mateer would play against Texas until the day of the game, but for fans that trusted a Chipotle worker and a viral message board post, they knew more than a week before, and Mateer finally revealed that whole situation actually happened while he was a guest on "The Hard Count" podcast with On3's J.D. Pickell.

John Mateer tells J.D. Pickell that viral message board post was true

Nine days before the Red River Rivalry, Sooner Nation got hope that Mateer would play against Texas after a viral message board post on TexAgs.com, a site that covers Texas A&M, was shared to X and eventually spread everywhere claimed Mateer would return for the Red River Rivalry. 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." And, sure enough, he did.

The viral post took the college football world by storm, but ultimately, it wasn't taken seriously or ever considered a reliable report. Another week of reports and injury updates followed, and some people still didn't believe Mateer would play until he was actually behind center. However, Mateer admitted to Pickell that everything from that message board post was accurate and taught Mateer a lesson about his newfound spotlight as the Sooners' QB1.

"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."