By CLIFF BRUNT AP Sports Writer
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer hasn’t been the same since having surgery on his right hand.
The Washington State transfer got off to a hot start this season, creating buzz and being mentioned as a Heisman contender. He was injured against Auburn and played through it, even running for the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter of a victory that gave the Sooners a 4-0 start and vaulted them into the AP Top 10.
Mateer had surgery on the throwing hand during Oklahoma’s off week, then sat out the win over Kent State. He returned for the showdown against Texas on Oct. 11, but he had the worst game of his career and threw three interceptions in a loss. He limited mistakes in a win against South Carolina last week as the running game carried the load.
Mateer had some good moments on Saturday against No. 8 Mississippi (7-1, 4-1 SEC,) and the 13th-ranked Sooners (6-2, 2-2) drove for a chance to tie late before missing a desperation pass in the final seconds. Yet Mateer acknowledged that he wasn’t as sharp as he needed to be in the 34-26 loss Saturday.
“I emphasize in practice throwing the ball down the field, and then I just missed,” he said. “Can’t happen in that situation. It’s something I’ve got to learn from, something I have to be better at. Period. Got to be better.”
Mateer completed 17 of 31 passes for 223 yards and a touchdown and ran 13 times for 17 yards against the Ole Miss. The missed throws were unusual enough to prompt questions about his recovery. He said throwing the ball feels the same as it did before the surgery.
The results haven’t been the same. In his first four games, he completed 67.4% of his passes and averaged 279 yards passing. In the three games since his return, he has completed 58% of his passes, is averaging 192 yards passing, and the Sooners are 1-2.
In his first four games, he had 43 carries for 190 yards and five touchdowns. Since then, he has 35 carries for 36 yards and hasn’t scored.
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said Mateer is still healing.
“He’s practiced well, he’s thrown with good accuracy, and he’s made good decisions,” Venables said. “I do think that’s still a process of getting completely and fully healed, but I’m not sure if he has the limitations or not. Again, his velocity is good, his accuracy has been really good. So I haven’t seen the limitations at practice.”
Mateer said he got the looks from the Ole Miss defense that he expected but had some misreads. He will try to regroup before next Saturday’s game at Tennessee.
“We’ve got a lot of fighters in here, and nobody’s going to just lay down and give up,” he said. “That’s not who we are on this team and that’s not the coach we have, and the coaches we have, and the leaders we have. So just take a moment to reset, reflect. And we got to do better. And it starts with me.”
On the other side of the field, Trinidad Chambliss threw for 315 yards and a touchdown and Kewan Lacy ran for two scores. Chambliss also rushed for 53 yards and often scrambled to create extra time to make throws.
“He’s a winner,” Venables said. “It’s what he’s done against everybody. But we needed to play better (to) have a chance to win. We needed to do a better job against him. So I didn’t have them ready to do that.”
Ole Miss put up 431 yards on a team that led the nation in total defense and ranked second in scoring defense heading into the weekend.
“A lot to learn from in a really painful way,” Venables said.
Among the other Sooners, Isaiah Sategna had six catches for a career-high 131 yards, but he had a costly fumble in the fourth quarter that stunted the Sooners’ momentum. Xavier Robinson ran for 109 yards and two scores.
Oklahoma had a chance to trim the deficit, but Trace Bruckler forced Sategna to fumble and Ethan Fields recovered near midfield with just over seven minutes remaining. Lucas Carneiro’s 37-yard field goal put Ole Miss up 34-26.
The game appeared to be over in the final minute when Mateer lost control of the ball and Ole Miss recovered, but it was ruled an incomplete pass. Oklahoma converted on fourth down on the next play, but Mateer eventually threw a desperation heave incomplete just short of the end zone on the last play.
“Hurt for our guys,” Venables said. “They fought their butts off. They showed great toughness and resolve. Had a chance on a day where we didn’t coach them good enough and we didn’t play good enough situationally. We still had a chance with the ball to go down to tie the game against a really good football team.”
New Look
Oklahoma installed padding around Owen Field three weeks after receiver Keontez Lewis ran headfirst into a brick wall past the endzone.
The padding was added to both end-zone walls and the sideline walls outside the team bench areas before Saturday’s game.
Lewis was injured against Kent State after a pass by Michael Hawkins Jr. was a bit overthrown and Lewis’ momentum took him into an unpadded section of the wall behind the end zone. Lewis was carted off after barely moving for about 10 minutes. He did not play on Saturday.
The Takeaway
Ole Miss: The Rebels could have put this game away much earlier, but they couldn’t shake the Sooners and settled for four field goals by Carneiro.
Oklahoma: The Sooners’ inability to run the ball early — 16 yards rushing in the first half — made things tougher for Mateer. Oklahoma’s inability to sustain drives put extra pressure on the defense.
