Oklahoma-Michigan: OU Stock Report

These teams really should get together more often.

The second meeting in history between No. 15-ranked Michigan and No. 18 Oklahoma was entertaining, as expected. 

The morning began on ESPN’s “College GameDay” with scenes of stolen signs and a $300,000 field goal, but that was just the appetizer.

Two of college football’s titans staged an old-fashioned tug-o-war on Owen Field, parts of which might have been mined from grainy, old black and white film, and parts that looked like some of 2025’s most dynamic playmakers.

Oklahoma came up with a clutch, cross-country scoring drive in the fourth quarter as John Mateer engineered a masterful possession that ended with a field goal that sent the Sooners to a 24-13 victory at Owen Field.

A crowd of 84,107 — a striped, Crimson and Cream sea of humanity, lightly sprinkled with Maize and Blue — watched only the first OU-Michigan game since the 1976 Orange Bowl.

The implications are big: OU hits the road next week to visit Temple, then comes back home to open Southeastern Conference action against Auburn.

Here is the Sooners On SI stock report from Saturday night’s big game with Michigan:

Up: QB John Mateer

Mateer was mostly great. At times he was masterful, at times just efficient, at times ambitious, and a few times he wasn’t very good.

But he was usually terrific running the football, either slicing or powering for touchdown runs, picking up tough yards in traffic, or just avoiding disaster in the backfield. His 19-yard run injected life into the OU offense, and his long, long delay of a 7-yard throw to Keontez Lewis two plays later on third-and-1 invoked even more comparisons with Baker Mayfield.

Mateer misfired on a handful of throws, including a fourth-quarter flea-flicker pass in the end zone to a wide-open Jaren Kanak, who stretched but had the ball glance off his fingertips.

Mateer was 12-of-18 at halftime for 160 yards, but then in the third and first part of the fourth, he completed just 6-of-13 throws for 81 yards.

Mateer completed 21-of-34 passes for 270 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and also rushed 19 times for 74 yards and two scores.

Up: Jaren Kanak

Kanak’s star continues to rise after he made a one-handed catch for a 31-yard gain on the Sooners’ opening drive, setting up Mateer’s 9-yard TD pass to Deion Burks.

Kanak was also the star of a modified engagement feature on the video board: instead of just the “Simba Cam,” a photo of Kanak holding his dachshund, Burger, and it’s now called the “Burger Cam” before resorting to the usual Lion King remix. 

Kanak finished with five catches for 69 yards.

Static: Bill Bedenbaugh

Oklahoma’s offensive line coach rolled out an almost entirely new starting offensive line: LT Michael Fasusi, LG Heath Ozaeta, C Jake Maikkula and LT Derek Simmons. Only RG Febechi Nwaiwu was back in the lineup from last week.

Fasusi, a true freshman, replaced senior Jacob Sexton (who was injured last week), Ozaeta, a third-year sophomore, replaced redshirt freshman Eddy Pierre-Louis, Maikkula, a transfer from Stanford, replaced senior Troy Everett (a captain), and Simmons, a transfer from Western Carolina, replaced Logan Howland.

And still, the Sooners had minimal success running the football against the Michigan defense. Through the third quarter, OU had just 85 yards on the ground and averaged 3.3 yards per carry. 

Mateer finished as OU’s leading rusher by far with 139 yards on the ground and an average of 3.9. The Sooners finally pulled away and wound time off the clock in the fourth quarter with 54 yards in the quarter on an average of 4.2 per play. 

Up: Kendal Daniels

In the first quarter alone, the Oklahoma State transfer blew up two of Bryce Underwood’s throws to running back Justice Haynes, one for at 1-yard loss and one for a 5-yard loss. …..

Up: Marvin Jones Jr.

Jones’ OU debut last week was very ordinary, but this week he was routinely in the Michigan backfield.

In the first quarter, as he nearly knocked Justice Haynes to the ground, he had the misfortune of grabbing the facemask — a 15-yard penalty.

In the third quarter, the Florida State transfer started Michigan’s second possession by dropping Haynes for a 4-yard loss, and on third down he nearly chased down a swing pass from behind but still forced the ball carrier to cut up into traffic for another TFL.

Down (Mostly): Sammy Omosigho

After the OU defense forced another 3-and-out stop — this one coming off the Michigan goal line — Omosigho roughed the Wolverines punter, giving UM a first down on a drive. Michigan went on to nearly score ... but missed a short field goal.

Omosigho did make OU's final tackle of the night, a tackle for loss with 35 seconds to play.

Volatile: Isaiah Sategna

Sategna dropped a third-down pass on a  quick slant that would have picked up a first.

But he bounced back in a huge way in the third quarter when a Mateer throw to Keontez Lewis down the left sideline was short, and Michigan corner Jyaire Hill batted the ball in the air and then started gathering it in for a sure interception.

But Sategna came in from the middle of the field and knocked the ball out of Hill’s hands.

On the next play, Mateer avoided a blitzed in the backfield and escaped to his right. He flipped a perfect throw over two defenders and into Sategna’s hands for a 36-yard pickup on third-and-8 to the UM 13. Mateer scored on 10-yard touchdown run two plays later for a 21-7 OU lead.

OU’s defense then forced a three-and-out from deep in the Wolverines’ side of the field, but Sategna fumbled Hudson Hollenbeck’s 55-yard punt, giving Michigan the football at the OU 31.

Sategna finished with four catches for 44 yards, one rush for 8 yards and two punt returns for 2 yards.

Up: Tory Blaylock

Just being healthy after leaving last week’s game with a shoulder injury is a plus. But Blaylock’s first two rushing attempts were again physical, punishing runs through traffic. 

He made a quick, decisive cut on the first one to leverage under a tackler, then powered through two defenders and picked up a first down on a speed-option pitch from Mateer after it looked like he’d been stopped short on third-and-5.

Blaylock finished with nine carries for 24 yards.

Down: Gentry Williams

Williams played pretty well — right up until he left the game in the third quarter. He spent most of the second half either in the sideline injury tent or testing what looked like a possible groin injury.

He was replaced on the field by sophomore Devon Jordan.

Down, Then Up: Tate Sandell

On his first field goal attempt as a Sooner — a massive kick early in the fourth quarter — the UTSA transfer pushed his 42-yarder wide left.