Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer has not looked like his normal self in recent weeks, since returning to the field after having surgery on his thumb. 

Mateer was on fire to start the season, leading the Sooners to an undefeated record, and at one point he was the Heisman favorite. Then in their win against Auburn, Mateer broke his thumb in the first quarter. He went on to play through the injury that day, leading Oklahoma to a comeback 24-17 victory in the fourth quarter, which included throwing 11-straight completions. 

Within days of the win, Mateer had a successful surgery on his throwing thumb by the infamous Dr. Steven Shin. The surgery forced him to miss the Kent State game, with Michael Hawkins in his place.

After dominating Kent State without Mateer, the Sooners quarterback returned to the field for the Red River Shootout against Texas. Since Mateer’s return, Oklahoma has lost two of its last three games (vs. Texas, vs. Ole Miss), and Mateer’s statistics have taken a significant dip.

Since his return, Mateer has completed less than 58% of his pass attempts, while throwing just two touchdown passes, along with three interceptions (all against Texas).  

Mateer addressed the media on Tuesday about the concerns on his play since the injury, and talked about what his current status looks like, ““I think in this offense, you have to be really disciplined with where your eyes go and what you see, and it’s pretty simple… So I need to just get it done… It’s definitely not my thumb. I’ll tell you that. I’ll stand by that.” 

Mateer added, “My thumb’s perfectly fine. I think it’s just the ups and downs of the flow of the game. And I’m a human. I’m not perfect. So there are good times, there are bad times. And I’d say it’s bad, I don’t really think it’s that bad. Like, I’m not not seeing the field. It’s not like, crucial, it’s okay, you know? So I don’t want to put that perspective out there. I’m still confident in what I’m looking at. And there’s just a couple that I missed, you know, when that happens, it just happens. We have bad times.”

Oklahoma offensive coordinator was asked about what he needs to do to get Mateer back to his previous form and he was pretty straight-forward saying, ““The best way that I can help him is at practice,” Arbuckle told reporters Tuesday. “And it’s just, it’s just demanding it out of them, you know, and demanding perfection. The other way I can do better for him is, again, always instilling confidence in him. He knows I and Coach Venables believe in Him to the nth degree.”

This week, the Mateer and the Sooners face a Tennessee defense that is currently ranked 113th in the FBS in points allowed per game, at 30.9. Just because the Oklahoma offense is facing a struggling defense on paper doesn’t guarantee that their success will automatically translate. 

In last week’s loss to Ole Miss, Mateer and the Sooners’ offense struggled to find a rhythm against a Rebels defense that wasn’t anything to ride home about. The Ole Miss defense is currently ranked 64th in the FBS in yards allowed per game at 361.9, yet the Oklahoma offense was held under the average with 359 yards gained, while only scoring 26 points at home.