Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables shrugged off any concerns that his quarterback’s surgically-repaired thumb is affecting his play.
In Saturday’s 34-26 loss to No. 8 Ole Miss at home, the Sooners’ star quarterback completed 17 of his 31 passes for 223 yards and a touchdown. Mateer missed 10 throws in the fourth quarter, though, and Oklahoma lost its second game in 3 tries since he returned to the lineup.
Venables was asked after the game if he thought the hand injury was impacting Mateer.
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him,” Venables said. “But he’s practiced well, he’s thrown with good accuracy, made good decisions. I do think that’s still a process of getting completely fully healed, but I’m not sure if he has the limitations or not.
“His velocity is good, his accuracy has been really good. I haven’t seen the limitations at practice.”
Mateer said after the game he felt like he “didn’t get it done.”
Oklahoma (6-2, 2-2 SEC) now finds its season on the brink. To make the College Football Playoff, most assume a team cannot suffer more than 2 losses during the regular season.
The Sooners travel to Knoxville to face a top-25 Tennessee team next Saturday. After that, OU visits Alabama.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
