NORMAN, Okla. — The most unsettling part of Oklahoma’s 17-10 loss at Michigan was not that the Sooners lacked answers.
It was that the answers were available and Oklahoma repeatedly failed to use them.
“We didn’t make the layups,” Brent Venables said during his weekly coaches show. “There’s lots of layups there, some easy-access throws. We can’t miss those layups.”
That assessment aligned with what offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and quarterback John Mateer said immediately after the game. Mateer completed 17 of 33 passes for 189 yards, one touchdown and one interception, but several potential chunk throws sailed beyond open receivers.
“My eyes weren’t great,” Mateer said. “I missed throws that I normally don’t miss, and we’ll figure out the reasons.”
Arbuckle believed Mateer steadied himself after a shaky opening half. Oklahoma erased a 10-0 deficit with a 90-yard touchdown drive and an 83-yard march that produced Tate Sandell’s tying field goal. Then the offense stalled again, and Mateer’s fourth-quarter interception gave Michigan the ball at the Oklahoma 6-yard line.
“For him to be the player that we know he is, he has to be able to deliver in those moments,” Arbuckle said. “I’ve got to do a really good job of putting those guys in a position to be successful.”
After reviewing the entire performance, Arbuckle called Mateer’s play “totally uneven.” He said the misses did not share one cause: pressure affected some, movement off the platform affected others and tight coverage changed still more. But the conclusion did not change.
“He didn’t take the layups whenever he needed to in certain situations,” Arbuckle said. “If his play is uneven, then there’s something I’m doing as a coach — there’s a disconnect there. And it’s not all his fault.”
Arbuckle said Oklahoma devoted a full-speed correction period to the Michigan misses, including the open comebacks, perimeter blocks and offensive-line combinations that failed in Ann Arbor.
Venables’ film review only sharpened the point. During a coaches-show breakdown of Oklahoma’s touchdown pass, he showed how motion forced Michigan to communicate and left multiple eligible receivers open.
“We have two guys wide open,” Venables said. “And really, we have three guys wide open on the play.”
The Sooners did not consistently convert similar opportunities. They finished 3 of 14 on third down and failed to score on their final three possessions.
Inside the locker room, Oklahoma is not placing the loss solely on Mateer.
“John, that’s my guy,” offensive lineman Eddie Pierre-Louis said Tuesday. “Everybody knows John’s got our back and we’ve got his back all the time — 110 percent, for sure.”
Running back Lloyd Avant said Mateer kept his head up after the loss, addressed the team and helped it turn toward New Mexico.
Support does not erase accountability. It makes the response a team responsibility.
Oklahoma must protect better, run the football consistently and avoid obvious passing situations. Arbuckle must keep creating favorable matchups. But when a receiver wins and the throw is available, Mateer must deliver it.
Michigan did not leave Oklahoma searching for a solution. The film showed the Sooners the solution repeatedly.
They simply did not finish it.
