After John Mateer's Performance at Georgia, Oklahoma Coaches Considering 'All Options'

ATHENS, GA — Last year, when John Mateer struggled, Oklahoma coaches said then that they never considered replacing him with then-backup Michael Hawkins.

That line of thinking has apparently changed in 2026.

Hawkins is tearing it up at West Virginia now, so the Sooners’ backup quarterback is untested, unknown Whitt Newbauer.

But when Mateer struggled Saturday in a 41-13 loss to the No. 2-ranked Georgia Bulldogs, there was consideration for replacing him.

“It was something that we discussed,” head coach Brent Venables said.

“Yeah, we discussed all options on the headset,” offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle added, “and ultimately still felt like John was our best choice to go win the game right there. That was talked about, and that was the conclusion we came up with.”

Mateer lost two fumbles — one while trying to throw a pass on the goal line, on which he wasn’t even contacted, and Georgia linebacker Chris Cole returned it 85 yards for a touchdown. He also threw an interception.

The last time an Oklahoma quarterback played that bad — 2024 against Tennessee, OU’s first conference game as a member of the SEC — Jackson Arnold was pulled from the starting lineup after three first-half turnovers.

And he was replaced by Hawkins.

“We have to continue coaching it,” Arbuckle said. “I have to continue being better. I have to continue being better for him, but at the same time, he understands his play. He understands what it’s supposed to look like and what it’s not supposed to look like. As long as we’re honest and truthful and attack that, his confidence will continue to go up.”

Moving forward, if Venables is feeling the appropriate pressure to turn this 2-2 (and rapidly spiraling) start to the season around, he might have to step in and make some tough personnel calls.

That could include examining the roles and structure of his coaching staff. With an open date before Texas, there's time to shuffle things here or there if needed. Remember, Venables fired Seth Littrell at midseason in 2024. It didn't work out well, but at least he tried to correct a mistake.

Saturday, however, was no time for such discussions, Venables said.

"I'm not … I'm not there right now," he said. "I'm trying to figure out what we need to do to get better and get ready for Texas and the rest of our season. And so I'm not in any kind of place to talk about something like that."

Venables did say when it comes to his players, he's seeing a lack of confidence — particularly in Mateer — which could be very concerning at the one-third mark of the season. Mistakes are compounding into more mistakes, and that's putting a potential championship defense (and strong special teams) at a disadvantage.

“I think when you have those mistakes in a game, I would say, without asking John the question, ‘Hey, how's your confidence doing?’" Venables said. “It's like, ‘Man, it's bruised. It certainly isn't sky high.’ And nobody's more disappointed than John, I can promise you.”

Mateer often seems to be missing reads, not looking at receivers who are open and ultimately holding onto the football too long. That results in unnecessary pressure, which results in wild, game-swinging turnovers.

During the game, those can be hard to correct in real time, Arbuckle said.

“Learn from the mistake," Arbuckle said, "learn what happened on the mistake — was it a self-inflicted error? Was it a schematical error? Did the defense make a great play? What happened on that? That’s how you have to address it. But ultimately, you have to flush it.”

OU trailed 14-0 when Mateer engineered a likely touchdown drive. On third-and-goal from the 2, he rolled out to his left, tried another ill-advised jump pass, and as he drew his arm back to throw it, the ball just slipped out of his hand.

“It just came out like that,” Mateer said, shaking his head. “That one's weird. That hasn't happened. Happened a couple times in the cold, in a morning practice at Washington State, but it's never happened in-game. Just, weird it happened.”

No doubt it reminded OU fans of Arnold’s performance against the Vols two years ago. For Mateer — with no points in the first half at Michigan and a game-deciding interception in the fourth quarter — his nightmare now has lasted three weeks.

“You look at the film and there's some good in there and then there's some things that are really hard to look at,” Mateer said. “And I point the thumb on that. I think stuff is going to be really hard to watch tomorrow.”

Newbauer is a 6-foot-6, 240-pound junior from North Carolina who transferred last year from FCS Mercer.

As a true freshman in 2024, he made the All-Southern Conference Freshman Team, played in nine games and made seven starts. He completed 56 percent of his passes for 1,398 yards with 12 touchdowns and four interceptions.

But OU fans knew all that already because that’s what’s written in his official OU bio.

What nobody knows is how Newbauer might perform on the hotplate of the Cotton Bowl against the No. 1-ranked team in the country.

Anyone who watched Mateer struggle through last year’s playoff-clinching win over LSU, and anyone who watched his Jackson Arnold impersonation on Saturday at Sanford Stadium has just one question:

How bad could it be?

Well, bad.

Remember, Oklahoma has failed to score a touchdown in three of Venables’ four games against the Longhorns. If not for some serious late-game heroics from Dillon Gabriel and Nic Anderson, Venables would be 0-4 against Texas and Steve Sarkisian. That includes a 49-0 blowout in 2022 when Gabriel was injured and the Sooner coaching staff had literally no options and no plan at quarterback.

Now … well, they have Mateer. And Newbauer.

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