A Strange Case
John Mateer might be the strangest case of Jekyll and Hyde quarterback play in recent memory. It has been well-documented how devastating his mistakes have been this season. That being said, he has also played some of the best intermittent periods of football of his career. He's currently, somehow, tied for 4th amongst all Power 4 QB's in passing touchdowns of 20+ yards (9). That means, against all odds, and despite all visual evidence to the contrary, he has been incredibly accurate and explosive down the field. Unfortunately, he has also been turnover prone – and not just normal, run of the mill turnovers, but brutal, gut-wrenching, impossible to comprehend types of mistakes. It's as if he is two quarterbacks at once, both good and bad, but only one can operate at a time on any given play.Let's consider the evidence.
- He has a tremendous third quarter against Michigan, and then throws a virtual pick six that ultimately loses the game.
- He leads a full-field drive inside the 5 yard line against Georgia, somehow tosses the ball backward for a 90 yard scoop and score that effectively ends the game.
- After playing probably his best 40 minutes of football in a Sooner uniform, he has an opportunity to drive down the field for a game-winning field goal against Kentucky, just like he did perfectly against a much superior (to Kentucky, anyway...) Texas defense literally the week before, and instead throws an actual pick six.
But then came the Mississippi State game. It played out almost identically to the loss against Kentucky the week before: Mateer played great for most of the game, and then had the ball in his hands with an opportunity to almost single-handedly win or lose the game. This time, like the Texas game before, he made the plays to win.
And this has been the pattern for the entire Sooners team going all the way back to last season's victory over LSU: Promising Win, Heartbreaking Loss. Promising Win, Heartbreaking Loss. And rinse and repeat and so on and what not, for 9 games in a row, currently tied for the record of such streaks in program history. A team of pendulum swings, led by their own Dr. John or Mr. Mateer, but only one or the other at a time, never both. So the question becomes, how do they break the mold?
Perhaps the solution lies in John Mateer's own dreams. He spoke candidly last week about waking up in the middle of the night and hearing a voice in his head (a feeling, even), telling him to forgive himself. And when he hit that point in the game where the scale could tilt either way, he remembered that, and credited that moment with helping him have the confidence in himself to finish strong.
Has he truly gone from "seeing ghosts" to "saving grace?" Will it be sweet dreams of victory for Sooner fans on Halloween night, or more nightmare turnovers and another dead season?
Just like the first time I watched Halloween in my room at 13 years old, we're just going to have to hide our eyes behind our hands and hold on for dear life until it's over. Whether Jekyll or Hyde, win or lose, the entire mood of the rest of the Sooners season will have been determined in some (likely spooky) fashion as the sun sets this evening.