Brent Venables Gets Brutally Honest on John Mateer Change, Admits Team’s Biggest Concern After Two Losses

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Two losses in four games is not a disaster on its own. The bigger concern is how Oklahoma keeps getting there. The Sooners have repeatedly hurt themselves with turnovers, and John Mateer has been at the center of that problem. Oklahoma opened the season with a win over UTEP, lost 17-10 to Michigan in Week 2, then bounced back against New Mexico before getting blown out 41-13 by No. 2 Georgia. At this point, fans are not just questioning the 2-2 record. They are questioning how long Brent Venables can stick with a quarterback who keeps giving opponents extra chances.

Brent Venables did not duck the obvious issue when reporters pressed him on Oklahoma falling into the same bad habits again. Georgia punished the Sooners’ mistakes all afternoon, turning turnovers into points despite Oklahoma holding up physically on both sides of the ball.

“So, thought our guys came out the second half, obviously on defense, and gave up a one-yard drive, 19-yard drive, one-yard drive,” Venables said, during a press conference, according to Oklahoma on 247Sports. “Held them to a field goal after the fumble by Rock and another three-and-out, forced a fumble, forced a couple of turnovers there in the second half. Continued the battle and see if we can claw our way back into the game, but weren’t able to do that. So, incredibly disappointing and hurt for the guys, and don’t think it as a lack of want to or the lack of will.”

Venables acknowledged the turnovers were too much to overcome, especially with Oklahoma trailing 14-0 despite driving all the way to Georgia’s 2-yard line. That was where things really started to unravel. On third-and-goal, Mateer was sacked, fumbled, and Georgia recovered it for a touchdown, turning a possible Oklahoma score into a 21-0 deficit.

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“I do think there’s some confidence issues. But there’s a ton of ball sitting in front of us. Not real popular for people to hear probably, but that’s the truth. Counts as one loss. And it’s tough. Doesn’t matter what the score is. There’s no consolation to it. And it’s a hard lesson to learn, and again, [I] give Georgia credit.”

Venables gave Georgia its credit, but his bigger concern was Oklahoma repeatedly wasting its own chances. For him, the problem came back to confidence and simply not being “careless with the football at the end of the day.”

Most of that carelessness came from Mateer, who turned the ball over on three straight second-quarter possessions. First, he fumbled at Georgia’s 2-yard line, and the Bulldogs returned it for a touchdown. On the next drive, he threw an interception at the Georgia 18. Then, on fourth-and-1 from Oklahoma’s 43, Mateer was sacked and fumbled again. Georgia recovered at the 34 and scored two plays later to make it 28-0.

It’s not hard to see why reporters pressed Venables afterward on whether his quarterback situation needed a hard look. One reporter asked directly whether Venables considered pulling Mateer during the game and whether the quarterback was dealing with a confidence problem. Venables did not brush the question off.

“Yeah, it was something that we discussed, but it’s a conversation: you’ll look at everything on how to get better,” Venables said. “I mean, I think when you know you have those mistakes in a game, I would say, without asking John the question, ‘hey how’s your confidence doing? It’s bruised; it certainly isn’t sky-high, and nobody’s more disappointed than John.”

The giveaways wrecked Oklahoma’s offensive rhythm and made it nearly impossible for the Sooners to play complementary football. Instead of building momentum, Oklahoma kept putting its defense back on the field and giving Georgia shorter paths to points.

Oklahoma finished 28 points behind the Bulldogs, and Venables made clear there was no silver lining in the loss. With a tougher stretch ahead, he is banking on the bye week to get the team healthy and help Mateer rebuild his confidence. Whether that is enough to keep Mateer firmly in the starting job is now one of the biggest questions hanging over Norman.

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