How Oklahoma, John Mateer passed first test against Michigan as Bryce Underwood struggled
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No. 18 Oklahoma notched a crucial early-season win for coach Brent Venables, beating No. 15 Michigan 24-13 on Saturday night in Norman in a matchup of two blue-blood programs trying to bounce back from underwhelming 2024 campaigns.

After the Sooners and Wolverines won easily with their new quarterbacks in Week 1 against overmatched opponents, Saturday presented a national introduction for Washington State transfer John Mateer at Oklahoma and freshman No. 1 recruit Bryce Underwood at Michigan. The far more experienced Mateer had the stronger night, completing 21 of 34 passes for 270 yards, one touchdown and one interception and rushing 19 times for 74 yards and two touchdowns to propel the Sooners to a prime-time win.

Mateer and Oklahoma led 14-0 at halftime, jumping ahead early with a 9-yard touchdown pass to receiver Deion Burks, who attended the same high school in Belleville, Mich., as Underwood. Though Michigan opened the second half with a 75-yard touchdown run, Oklahoma answered a few minutes later, and Michigan couldn’t overcome missed opportunities against a stingy Sooners defense.

The Sooners (2-0) are coming off a 6-7 season in their SEC debut to put pressure on Venables, who’s 24-17 since replacing Lincoln Riley in 2022. Michigan (1-1) went 8-5 last year after winning the 2023 national title, struggling with one of the nation’s worst passing offenses.

Oklahoma now has a 21 percent chance of making the College Football Playoff, according to The Athletic’s projections model, while Michigan fell to 14 percent.

Oklahoma changes paying off

The Sooners passed their first test of the season heading into a daunting SEC schedule. The importing of offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle with Mateer from Washington State looks like a success so far, with Mateer’s playmaking ability on display Saturday. The Athletic’s No. 1 transfer in the offseason, Mateer finished fourth in the FBS with an average of 330.4 yards of total offense per game for the Cougars last year (261.6 passing, 68.8 rushing), and he put the Sooners offense on his back for much of the night against an acclaimed Michigan defense. Oklahoma outgained Michigan 408 to 288, and Mateer accounted for 344 yards of total offense.

Venables came into the season on the hot seat, and Saturday’s win was a step in the right direction. Still, there’s a lot of season to go, with remaining games against six currently ranked opponents plus Auburn and Missouri. The good news is the changes made in the offseason have looked correct so far — Chris Vannini, national college football writer

An early hiccup for the Underwood era at Michigan

The pairing of Underwood and Chip Lindsey hit a snag after an impressive Week 1 against New Mexico. Michigan’s new offensive coordinator had trouble dialing up anything that worked, and Underwood completed 9 of 24 passes for just 142 yards. Miscommunications in the red zone doomed two drives that resulted in field goal attempts and led to a heated exchange between Underwood and running back Justice Haynes on the sideline.

“They talked it over and they were fine,” Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said afterward. “It’s competitive. They both want to be right.”

Aside from a 75-yard touchdown run from Haynes on the first play of the third quarter, Michigan’s offense was grinding its gears. Lindsey called a fairly conservative game, perhaps as a way to protect a freshman quarterback making his second start in a hostile environment. The Wolverines avoided backbreaking mistakes, but they also saw most of their drives fizzle out. With a quarterback as talented as Underwood, it has to be tempting to turn him loose. The Wolverines did that sparingly, and when they did, Underwood was often off the mark. Better days are ahead for Underwood, but the missed opportunities in this one will sting Michigan for a while. — Austin Meek, Michigan beat writer

Sooners defense stands up

Much of the attention before this game was on how Venables and the Sooners defense would try to confuse and contain Michigan’s five-star freshman quarterback. With an inconsistent performance from the offense, Oklahoma’s defense — led by Venables calling the plays — stepped up. The Sooners held Michigan to 288 total yards, made Underwood uncomfortable with pressure and were especially strong stopping the run, aside from the one 75-yard touchdown hiccup. According to TruMedia, Underwood completed just 1 of 10 passes when Oklahoma blitzed.

The Sooners also got off the field, holding Michigan to conversions on just 3 of 14 third downs. Every Michigan first down gained felt like a real effort. — Vannini

Oklahoma has plenty to clean up around Mateer

The Sooners still can’t run the ball well with anyone outside of Mateer, and they seem to know that, drawing questions about whether Mateer can hold up for the season. The quarterback led OU with 19 carries for 74 yards, easily the most rushes among his teammates — and most of them were called QB runs. Mateer had seven carries against Illinois State in Week 1.

Jaydn Ott, the talented Cal transfer running back, again provided little in the rushing attack, with just four carries for 9 yards. This came after having one rush on four snaps a week ago. Venables said Ott would be more available this week, and though he was out there more, he looks far from the player who rushed for 1,315 yards at Cal in 2023.

The Sooners also repeatedly made mistakes when given the opportunity to put Michigan into a bigger hole. There was a wide-open drop on a third-down pass on the second drive of the game. There was an interception thrown on the third drive. And a roughing-the-punter penalty on fourth-and-long helped Michigan go on a long drive.

In the second half, an Oklahoma muffed punt led to a Michigan field goal, and a fumbled kick-return catch led an OU drive to start inside the 10-yard line. In the fourth quarter, tight end Jaren Kanak dropped a flea-flicker pass in the end zone. That drive ended with the Sooners missing a 42-yard field goal. — Vannini

How big of a setback is this for Michigan?

This wasn’t a make-or-break game for Michigan. It was more like a proving ground to see how far the Wolverines have to go to be considered an elite team again. The answer: quite a ways.

As of now, the Wolverines don’t have another ranked team on their schedule before they face No. 1 Ohio State to end the regular season. But they have some tough games ahead, including trips to Nebraska and USC. Also, Michigan will be without its head coach for the next two weeks as Moore serves a suspension related to the Connor Stalions sign-stealing investigation. It will be incumbent on Michigan’s team leaders to make sure this loss doesn’t spiral into more while their head coach is suspended.

This loss is far from a season-killer, but it showed that Michigan isn’t as close as the Wolverines thought they were. — Meek

(Photo: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)