– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NORMAN, OKLAHOMA — In the first true test for the Oklahoma football team after an uncharacteristically poor season, the Sooners quickly put some of those painful memories, at least temporarily, in the rearview, while their new quarterback was full speed ahead on his way to outshining .
John Mateer threw for a touchdown and ran for two more scores, leading No. 18 Oklahoma to a 24-13 win over No. 15 Oklahoma inside Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Saturday night. Oklahoma’s defense held Michigan, led by top high school recruit Bryce Underwood at quarterback, to 288 yards of total offense while shutting out the Wolverines in three of the four quarters.
Sooners head coach and one-time defensive coordinator Brett Venables has not endeared himself to the demanding fanbase in Norman with two losing seasons in his first three years as the head man replacing the legendary Bob Stoops a.k.a. Venables’ former boss. A big win right before the rigors of Southeastern Conference play almost seemed a requirement to ease the tension early, and his new signal-caller did the heavy lifting tonight in making sure the Sooners got the upper hand.
Mateer, a transfer from Washington State, passed for 270 yards and ran for 74 more, and his two-yard touchdown run with 22 seconds remaining in the second quarter gave Oklahoma a 14-0 lead going into halftime.
Michigan cut the lead in half on the first play of the second half, a 75-yard touchdown run from Justice Haynes. The Alabama transfer already has three runs of at least 50 yards this season.
But Oklahoma responded on the ensuing drive, which ended with a 10-yard run from Mateer to reestablish the Sooners’ 14-point advantage.
Despite the productive day on the ground from Haynes, Underwood struggled from under center while playing in one of the harshest environments he’s played in front of in his young career. The freshman completed 9-of-24 passes for 142 yards, though he did lead Michigan to two more scoring drives in the third quarter, both ending in Dominic Zvada field goals.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday evening’s game, with photos taken by staff photographer Aaron J. Thornton. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 24 pictures in total.
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