Oklahoma faced Alabama on the road in Tuscaloosa and came out on top in a thrilling 23-21 win. The win keeps Brent Venables’ playoff hopes alive, as the Sooners are now 8-2 in the season. Despite that win, John Mateer managed just 138 passing yards and completed just 15 of the 23 passes. Not to mention the offense accumulated just 212 yards, in contrast to Alabama’s 406 yards. Now, an NFL legend feels that it can haunt the Sooners in the upcoming games.

Coming into the Alabama game in Tuscaloosa, the 4th-ranked Crimson Tide were on a 17-game win streak at home. Not just that, the team was dominating its recent games, and Ty Simpson was bolstering his Heisman candidacy. The battle then truly lay in the trenches and in the defense, something Oklahoma executed too well and forced three crucial turnovers. That also included a pick six as the defense became the key difference maker. That’s exactly what six-time NFL Pro-Bowler Chad Johnson echoed.

Shannon Sharpe hosted his ‘Nightcap’ podcast on 16th November, with Johnny Manziel and Johnson, who discussed the Sooners’ offensive woes. ” Listen, Oklahoma played really well,” said Chad Johnson. However, when it came to grading Mateer’s performance, Johnson wasn’t impressed. “ I mean, Mateer didn’t (play well). He was what, 15 for 23? He didn’t pass more than 136 yards. That’s it?” said Johnson. Mateer’s performance was surely quite limited, but it was still clean.

“Mr. Robinson had 34 rushing yards what I think. Carter had three for 36. I mean that that was it. I’m not going to call it a sloppy game. But it’s a game where the game was decided on those three turnovers because they played very, very good defense,” said Chad Johnson. Despite the lowest offensive output in a win since 2001 for the Sooners. John Mateer didn’t throw any interceptions and also scored a rushing touchdown. Alabama, on the other hand, was offensively dominating, but Venables’ defense was truly remarkable.

Ty Simpson managed to pass a whopping 326 yards; however, the defense forced an 87-yard pick-six. Eli Bowen quickly leapt on a slightly overthrown pass and only stopped 87 yards away in the endzone. Later, the defense forced a fumble deep in Alabama’s territory, which led to a crucial field goal. Not to mention, Brent Venables’ boys stopped several clutch plays, including the fourth-down pass breakup by Peyton Bown. The performance was also special since OU was without its two key defensive players.

Brent Venables praises his defense for their grit against Alabama

Before the game started, ace defensive lineman R Mason Thomas was ruled out of the game. Whereas DT Jayden Jackson played limited snaps, since he was dealing with injuries. Despite that, when Alabama was 4th and 6 late in the fourth quarter. The defense came up trumps and forced an incompletion from Ty Simpson with just 50 seconds left on the clock. That surely shows that Oklahoma can still win on a bad day at the office for John Mateer.

“This is one of the best teams I’ve been around when it comes to just the brotherhood and the belief in one another,” Venables said. “Something special about it. The grittiness. The toughness. The leadership. The investment. We’ve got great people, great young men who have a great self-awareness, and every week, they want to come back and prove it again and put the work in to prove it again.”

Despite concerns about John Mateer against Alabama, the QB still has been the core difference maker for OU. He has 2,087 passing and 329 rushing yards to his name so far, and Venables surely is looking to protect him even more ever since his injury. That surely explains his low passing yardage post-injury. For instance, against Tennessee, the QB passed for 159 yards, and passed 150 yards against South Carolina. Still, the rushing ability for the OU QB1 is top-notch as he has already scored seven TDs this season.