Jonathan Hutton Explains Oklahoma's SIGNIFICANT Advantage with John Mateer and Ben Arbuckle
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
Sport and State’s Jonathan Hutton of the ‘Hutton & Withrow’ show joined Sooners Roundtable publisher Tyler Jones on ‘The Jones Report’ this week with his thoughts on Oklahoma and the SEC.
Hutton has covered the conference for the last two decades in Nashville at OutKick and WGFX The Zone, and he gave his insights on what stands out to him about this year’s Sooner team.
Oklahoma returns quarterback John Mateer for his senior season. For Hutton, it isn’t just the return of Mateer that matters to OU, but also the fact that he is working with offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle for their second straight year together in Norman. The duo began their journey together at Washington State in 2023, and Mateer was named the PAC-12’s Offensive Top Performer in his first full-year as the Cougars’ starting quarterback in 2024.
Sport & State Host Jonathan Hutton 8-20-26The Jones Report · Episode
Hutton stated, “Diego Pavia brought New Mexico State’s coaches with him to Vandy. That’s very underrated.”
He added, “Oklahoma’s quarterback position, you need the guy that you just know we’re behind him and believe in the message. You gotta have someone who is going to talk the talk and walk the walk. If you go out there and you have a couple of weeks where it is shaky or uncertain, it is more about being certain and confident and comfortable in the system, and a lot of the transfer can’t do that. If you’re bringing the coaching staff with you, now that’s a different game. That’s a different ballgame because you are coming in more confident than the guys on the roster that are learning it.”
Hutton went on to express confidence in the Sooners’ quarterback saying, “Who can be a coach on the field? Mateer can be that dude.”
In 2024, Mateer and Arbuckle had a huge season together in Pullman. The Cougars’ offense averaged 36.8 points per game, ranking 12th nationally. Mateer led the entire FBS in touchdowns with 44 (29 passing, 15 rushing).
Last year prior to Mateer’s thumb injury, the Sooners’ offense was humming. Through the first four games of the 2025 season, Mateer carried the Sooners to a 4-0 start, averaging 351.3 total yards of offense per game, which ranked second-best in all of college football. He was averaging 304 passing yards per game over that initial stretch, and was the Heisman-favorite at the end of September. Mateer started out hot last season, which included a spectacular, school-record debut against Illinois State where he threw for 392 yards.
With Mateer fully-healthy now, Arbuckle will look to unleash the Sooners’ offense and hope to get it to the level of where they were prior to the injury and similar to the production the two had at Washington State.
What should make Sooner fans confident as Hutton alludes to is the experience and the fact that Mateer and Arbuckle have done this before. If two of them can unleash this offense like what they have done in the past, Oklahoma will be not just in the SEC championship conversation, but could be a serious threat to win the national championship.
You can hear Jonathan Hutton on his new show ‘Hutton & Withrow’ with Sport and State, weekdays from 7-9am CT on YouTube.
Check out the full conversation with Tyler Jones and Hutton on this week’s edition of ‘The Jones Report’, available now on Spotify, Apple, and all major podcast platforms. For weekly Oklahoma Sooners coverage, subscribe to the show for free and leave a five-star review!
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos