Berry Tramel
Tulsa World Sports Columnist
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NORMAN — For nine months, John Mateer has had quite the easy task of following Jackson Arnold. Then Saturday, Arnold was tasked with following Mateer, and there was nothing easy about it.
Mateer had laid aside a sputtering, frustrating afternoon against Auburn with a touchdown drive that could be season-changing. Down by a point with 7:08 left in the game, Mateer took the Sooners on a flawless, six-play touchdown drive that gave OU the lead.
Then Arnold, largely a bust as the 2024 Sooner quarterback but who played so much better Saturday in his return with the Tigers, took the field with 4:54 left, needing a touchdown drive to keep Auburn alive.
Good luck with that. The pressure Arnold faced in dealing with the emotions of his return was nothing like the pressure Arnold faced against Brent Venables’ zealous pass rush.
The 11th-ranked Sooners beat 22nd-ranked Auburn 24-17, and Arnold remarkably held his own with Mateer, who had soared to the top of Heisman Trophy hype.
Then Auburn’s final three plays, all deep in its own territory, were sack, sack, sack, after Arnold already had been harassed on that series and through the game.
David Stone ran down the scrambling Arnold for no gain when Auburn already faced 2nd-and-20 from its 13-yard line. Then Gracen Halton caught Arnold solid, just beyond the Auburn end zone, and flattened the quarterback so quickly that Owen Field seemed to become this college town’s third International House of Pancakes.
Arnold got back up for one more futile play — that one ended in a sack, too, via R Mason Thomas for a safety — because that was Arnold’s style on this throwback Saturday, when this Southeastern Conference showdown became a 20th-century slugfest.
Yards were at a premium. Big plays were an oasis in a desert of defensive dominance. Arnold was good and tough.
Then Mateer came through in the clutch. He completed 16 of his final 17 passes, including the last 11, and a pristine, 75-yard, six-play drive in which every play was exquisitely executed. The big play was a 31-yard fade pass to Isaiah Sategna at the Auburn 9-yard-line. The next play was Mateer’s touchdown run off a quarterback draw.
Mateer’s numbers ended up great; he completed 24-of-36 passes for 271 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and just one sack.
But Arnold wasn’t far off — 21-of-32, 220 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions — and that was against a Sooner defense that produced a school-record 10 sacks and flushed him from the pocket nine times.
Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said Arnold held up well with the pressure and said the reunion was a non-factor.
“I don’t think he had any concern for the pre-whatever-we-call-it,” Freeze said. “I think he was concerned about that Oklahoma defense like we all were. That was tough sledding.”
The Auburn defense is good, too, though Mateer wasn’t bombarded like Arnold.
Mateer was off in the first half — he completed just eight of 16 passes for 104 yards, with limited running opportunities — but found his groove in the second half.
“Another example, you don’t have to play perfect, just need to be good at the right moments,” Venables said.
Arnold was not sullen in the Auburn locker room. He was disappointed and should have been, since the Tigers had a chance to win. “It obviously sucks to lose,” Arnold said.
But this performance should give the Tigers confidence that they can win with Arnold at quarterback this season. Persevering against the Venables defense was impressive.
Auburn trailed 16-10 in the fourth quarter when it faced 4th-and-11 from the OU 38-yard line. With Venables deploying a rush-heavy formation — two ends on each side, with their ears pinned back — and a middle linebacker in the middle to keep tabs on the scramble, Arnold quickly was flushed from the pocket, but he made a couple of moves and rambled 15 yards for a first down. Arnold converted another fourth down via a pass-interference penalty, and Auburn scored a play later.
“He’s got amazing courage and toughness,” Venables said. “He’s going to have plenty of amazing days. He had some amazing moments today. Glad at the right time, we made the right plays on him when we needed to.”
So salute to Arnold. He played well under trying circumstances and proved to all what he didn’t prove last season, that’s he’s a legitimate SEC quarterback.
But salute to Mateer, too. In his conference-game debut, Mateer got better and better and was fantastic at the end.
“When the pressure arises, that’s when you find out what kind of man you are,” Mateer said. “This is the atmosphere every kid dreams of. It’s surreal. It’s awesome.”
Auburn’s first-ever trip to Norman indeed produced an awesome game and lived up to an juicy plot, as Jackson Arnold chased some ghosts, and John Mateer proved his mettle.
berry.tramel@tulsaworld.com
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Berry Tramel
Tulsa World Sports Columnist
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