Mason Young
Tulsa World OU Sports Reporter
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NORMAN — R Mason Thomas called game again.
The Oklahoma defensive end, who had two game-sealing sacks in the Sooners’ win over Auburn last year, closed out the Tigers with a four-quarter sack safety Saturday night. No. 11 OU prevailed 24-17 over No. 22 AU in its Southeastern Conference opener.
For a moment, it looked like Jackson Arnold might have his revenge. The former OU quarterback, who transferred to Auburn after struggling as the Sooners’ starter last year, refused to go away quietly.
With Auburn trailing by six in the mid fourth quarter, Arnold scrambled for a first down on 4th-and-11. Later on that same drive, faced with a 4th-and-6, Arnold threw toward his No. 1 target, Cam Coleman, in the back corner of the end zone.
Coleman drew a pass interference penalty on OU freshman cornerback Courtland Guillory, giving AU a first down. On the next play, Auburn’s Malcom Simmons rushed four yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
Mateer, who lost to Arnold in their Texas high school days, wasn’t to be beaten again, though. Taking the ball back, he hit Jaren Kanak for a 15-yard gain over the middle, then dropped a ball in a bucket to Isaiah Sategna, for a 31-yard completion, once reviewed.
Then Mateer ran forward nine yards and reached over the goal line, putting OU back on top. Mateer finished with 24-for-36 passing (67%) for 271 yards and one touchdown.
Mateer rushed 10 times for 29 yards and a score as OU’s leading rusher. Sategna was his leading receiver with nine catches for 127 yards and a touchdown.
The Sooners failed on a 2-point conversion attempt after their final touchdown, and needed their defense to hold the line. The defense did that and more.
With the Tigers facing 2nd-and-25 in their own end zone, following back-to-back penalties, David Stone tackled Arnold for no gain. Then Gracen Halton sacked Arnold for a four yard loss on the next play. Right after that, Thomas shut the door.
OU totaled 14 tackles for loss, and its 10 sacks were a single-game program record.
Here’s the rest of the Tulsa World breakdown of OU-Auburn:
Play to remember: Sooners catch a break
Oklahoma could’ve been in an unenviable deficit early Saturday.
Following Taylor Wein’s third down sack that caused Auburn to punt on its opening drive, the Sooners nearly gave the ball right back.
Mateer completed a pass to Isaiah Sategna that Auburn appeared to strip and return for a touchdown. Fortunately for OU, after a long video review, officials ruled that Sategna had never possessed the ball and called it an incomplete pass.
The Auburn touchdown was wiped off the board. It was a big break for the Sooners.
Questionable calls: You get a flag, you get a flag
The SEC referees were very friendly with their whistles and flags Saturday. They called a combined 15 penalties in the first half — eight on OU and seven on Auburn.
All the flags flying made it hard for either team to establish a rhythm. It was a 3-3 stalemate for much of the first half.
Were all the penalties necessary, or correct? Probably not.
Then the crew missed a key call in the fourth quarter, when Auburn tried a double pass to the end zone. Eric Singleton threw it up for his fellow receiver, Coleman.
OU’s Gentry Williams appeared to hit Coleman before the ball was there, and Coleman didn’t make the catch. There was no flag. The refs were just preposterous. In total, they called 22 penalties on Saturday.
Head scratcher (in a good way): What was that?
Auburn return man Malcolm Simmons made a really bad decision to start the second quarter when he fielded a 66-yard punt from OU’s Grayson Miller inside the Tigers’ own 5-yard line.
Four penalties killed the ensuing drive, and then the game really went off the rails. Former Oklahoma State punter Hudson Kaak, now the Auburn boot man, bobbled the snap and panicked as he faced pressure from OU’s Michael Boganowski. Kaak tossed the ball out as he went to the ground and Sooner linebacker Taylor Heim recovered the fumble.
Three plays later, Oklahoma scored on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Mateer to a wide open Sategna down the left sideline. It was almost like Sategna was a hidden man. Nobody covered him. Former OU coach Bob Stoops told the Sooner radio broadcast that he saw the play run during practice earlier in the week. Color analyst Teddy Lehman explained it as such:
It was Deion Burks’ job to distract the Auburn corner and safety on that side of the field while it appeared Sategna was running off, but Sategna never subbed out and just stayed hidden near the sideline. It worked to perfection, and the Sooners grabbed the lead.
Turning point: OU stalls, Auburn attacks
However, after capitalizing on the Tigers’ special teams gaffe with trickery, then getting another stop, OU stalled out.
Mateer completed a 29-yard pass to Sategna and a 19-yarder to Keontez Lewis, moving the chains on back-to-back plays. But on the third play in that sequence, Mateer fumbled after faking the handoff to Tory Blaylock, and Auburn recovered.
The OU defense was able to hold after that, but the Sooner offense didn’t respond. On the next OU possession Mateer missed Kanak wide open over the middle on third down and the Sooners punted away.
That’s when Auburn struck, with an 8-play, 60-yard drive capped by Arnold’s touchdown pass to Cam Coleman knotting the score at 10-10 with 1:08 left in the first half.
The Sooners had a chance to punch back before intermission and looked like they might. Mateer hit Burks for a 38-yard gain up the seam but it was called back on offensive pass interference by Sategna.
Thus, OU didn’t tack on a field goal before the break. It did, however, go up on a 32-yard field goal on its second possession of the third quarter.
X-factor: R Mason Thomas’s 2nd half return
R Mason Thomas spent the first half Saturday on a stationary bike, raring to return. The OU defensive end was suspended for the opening half against Auburn after a targeting penalty last week versus Temple.
Once back, though, Thomas made an immediate impact. He flew in to sack Arnold on just his second play of the game.
Two Auburn drives later, Tigers running back Jeremiah Cobb busted out on a 44-yard run. Thomas ran from the other side of the field to tackle Cobb and prevent a touchdown.
Auburn ultimately had to try a 50-yard field goal, which it missed. The Sooners responded with a field goal drive of their own, pushing their lead to six.
Injury report: Line is fine
OU starting offensive linemen Jake Maikkula, Febechi Nwaiwu and Michael Fasusi were all questionable to play earlier in the week, but they all gutted it out against Auburn. Starting defensive end Marvin Jones Jr. also played after being questionable days prior.
Injured cornerback Eli Bowen and receiver Javonnie Gibson, who have yet to debut this season, still didn’t play Saturday, but they warmed up and looked ever closer to a return. It wouldn’t surprise to see them after the bye week versus Kent State.
During the game, OU linebacker Owen Heinecke cut his hand open and had to go to the locker room for stitches and a cast, but the Bishop Kelley product returned to the game with his left hand covered.
mason.young@tulsaworld.com
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Mason Young
Tulsa World OU Sports Reporter
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