Postgame Thoughts: Georgia 41, Oklahoma 13
Early miscues snuffed out any hopes of the Oklahoma Sooners staying competitive in their first SEC game of the season, a 41-13 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs.
Georgia gave a workmanlike effort, opening a 14-0 lead in the first half. The Bulldogs capitalized on two fumbles and an interception by OU quarterback John Mateer in the second quarter to widen the gap to 28-0 at halftime. The second half primarily consisted of UGA holding the Sooners at arm’s length.
Here are a few thoughts from a disappointing day for OU, based on one viewing of the live broadcast.
*I should make something clear to provide proper context for this performance. Georgia looks like the best team in the country to me through the first month of the season. The Sooners all but handed UGA 17 points via turnovers, one of which came on a drive in which Mateer quite literally dropped the ball a couple yards away from the Bulldogs’ end zone.
In a weird way, I found it encouraging that this matchup didn’t get even uglier than a 28-point drubbing. And, yet, it feels incredibly depressing to write that. The duality of existence.
*I would rather not pile on Mateer, but I can’t write an intellectually honest recap of this game otherwise.
OU had a chance to cut UGA’s lead to 14-7 in the second quarter with Mateer staring at an open receiver a few yards away in the UGA end zone. Instead, that play ended with Bulldog Chris Cole racing down the field for a defensive touchdown that effectively finished the game off with 39 minutes left to play. Mateer followed up that gaffe by tossing a fade-away interception on OU’s next drive and fumbling on the possession after that one to set up UGA for an 11-yard march to paydirt.
I try not to do “if X did/didn’t happen, then Y would/wouldn’t have happened.” However, I feel very confident asserting that Mateer’s unforced errors made the difference between a competitive game and a blowout. Your quarterback simply can’t play that way – everything else about how the team performs becomes irrelevant.
The bloopers are just another day at the office for Mateer. You have to bake them into every single game going forward, which makes game planning and running a coherent offense impossible.
*Unfortunately, I don’t think changing QBs would make the situation better. You risk losing the team if the players know you’re making a QB change just for the sake of making a change.
*The Sooners didn’t run the ball well. I didn’t expect them to start running the ball well against the Georgia defense after looking so punchless on the ground otherwise.
*Has anyone explained what the issues were with getting plays called in the first half? Just clownish.
*Frankly, I have no complaints with any part of OU’s defense. They played well from start to finish.
*I don’t want to dwell on this much more. QB play remains the overriding issue here.