Oklahoma QB John Mateer still finding groove after hand injury as Sooners fall to No. 8 Mississippi

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer hasn’t been the same since having surgery on his right hand.

The Washington State transfer got off to a hot start this season, creating buzz and being mentioned as a Heisman contender. He was injured against Auburn and played through it, even running for the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter of a victory that gave the Sooners a 4-0 start and vaulted them into the AP Top 10.

Mateer had surgery on the throwing hand during Oklahoma’s off week, then sat out the win over Kent State. He returned for the showdown against Texas on Oct. 11, but he had the worst game of his career and threw three interceptions in a loss. He limited mistakes in a win against South Carolina last week as the running game carried the load.

Mateer had some good moments Saturday against No. 8 Mississippi, and the 13th-ranked Sooners drove for a chance to tie late before missing a desperation pass in the final seconds. But he acknowledged that he wasn't as sharp as he needed to be in the 34-26 loss Saturday.

“I emphasize in practice throwing the ball down the field, and then I just missed,” he said. “Can’t happen in that situation. It’s something I’ve got to learn from, something I have to be better at. Period. Got to be better.”

Mateer completed 17 of 31 passes for 223 yards and a touchdown and ran 13 times for 17 yards against the Ole Miss. The missed throws were unusual enough to prompt questions about his recovery. He said throwing the ball feels the same as it did before the surgery.

The results haven’t been the same. In his first four games, he completed 67.4% of his passes and averaged 279 yards passing. In the three games since his return, he has completed 58% of his passes, is averaging 192 yards passing, and the Sooners are 1-2.

In his first four games, he had 43 carries for 190 yard and five touchdowns. Since then, he has 35 carries for 36 yards and hasn’t scored.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said Mateer is still healing.

“He’s practiced well, he’s thrown with good accuracy, and he’s made good decisions,” Venables said. “I do think that’s still a process of getting completely and fully healed. But I’m not sure if he has the limitations or not. Again, his velocity is good, his accuracy has been really good. So I haven’t seen the limitations at practice.”

Mateer said he got the looks from the Ole Miss defense that he expected but had some misreads. He will try to regroup before next Saturday’s game at Tennessee.

“We’ve got a lot of fighters in here, and nobody’s going to just lay down and give up,” he said. “That’s not who we are on this team and that’s not the coach we have and the coaches we have and the leaders we have. So just take a moment to reset, reflect. And we got to do better. And it starts with me.”

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