NORMAN — Oklahoma was doomed by poor offensive line play and a quarterback that buckled under waves of pressure.
A week after winning in the Cotton Bowl, OU melted down in a 21-13 home loss to Kentucky on Saturday night.
Let’s get to the grades:
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Ryan Fodje, OU offensive line: D
Ryan Fodje was put in an unfair spot. OU’s fill-in left tackle could hardly move out there with his heavily taped ankle. And he’s not a tackle to begin with.
Michael Fasusi can’t come back soon enough for the Sooners. But in the meantime, was there no other option to replace Fodje earlier in the game?
Eventually, when OU took the field with less than three minutes left, it was Peyton Joseph who lined up at left tackle in place of Fodje. It was too late.
Mateer started to press as a sea of blue closed in on him, which led to the second-half interceptions.
Mateer was sacked five times. Three times in the fourth quarter.
John Mateer: C-
John Mateer was halfway through what might have been his finest SEC performance. The Oklahoma quarterback was sharp and decisive — two qualities that had been missing pretty much all season.
His first interception, late in the third quarter, was untimely, but forgivable. His arm was hit on the release. Not a bad interception by Mateer standards.
But the two late interceptions were killers. The Sooners had the ball, down 14-13, when Mateer threw a pick-six with 1:17 left.
OU had one last chance, down eight points, and the Sooners got to midfield before Mateer threw another pick, throwing away a Hail Mary chance.
This is a tough game to grade Mateer. He was ripping the ball in the first half, converting on one clutch third down after another. He finished with a season-high 270 passing yards.
But as his protection started to wane, his mistakes compiled. The offensive line didn’t set up Mateer to succeed, but at the same time, Mateer’s mistakes were catastrophic.
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Former Sooners Jovantae Barnes, Nic Anderson: A-
Unlike OU, which has season-long captains, Kentucky chooses their captains week-to-week.
It was no coincidence that former Sooners Jovantae Barnes and Nic Anderson got the nod Saturday.
Both were featured on Kentucky’s opening drive, which was a thing of perfection. The Cats went 67 yards for a touchdown on 13 plays. It was the first time this season that OU’s defense allowed points on its opening drive.
Anderson saved his best catch, and one of the highlights of the game, for the fourth quarter, when he somehow came down with a 17-yard catch that was batted and bobbled around until Anderson finally secured it.
Anderson had a big catch before that in the third quarter. A 12-yard reception on third-and-11. He was Kentucky’s leading receiver with five catches for 48 yards.
Barnes had five carries for 16 yards.
OU trick plays: F
A first-quarter flea flicker resulted in a 5-yard sack. And that wasn’t even close to OU’s worst trick play of the first half.
Instead of narrowing Kentucky’s lead to 7-6 on a chip-shot field goal, OU dialed up a fake on fourth-and-2. Kicker Tate Sandell split out wide, and holder Jacob Ulrich fielded the snap. Ulrich threw a jump pass intended for Rocky Beers, but it was picked off by Kentucky’s Jordan Castell.
A 12-play, six-and-a-half-minute drive ended in disaster.
Points are hard enough to come by for this OU offense. You have to take them when they’re available.
Uniform matchup: D
OU’s modernized throwbacks are fine, I suppose. They’re representative of what the Sooners wore from 1946-56. Plain white helmet, red jerseys, white pants. None of OU’s alternates beat the normal look. I know players can get fired up by wearing alternates, but these?
Kentucky looked like Newcastle High School. No offense to the Racers.
Kentucky blue is a good color. The Wildcats just weren’t wearing much of it, going with black lids, white jerseys and black pants.
Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football offensive line fails to protect John Mateer in loss to Kentucky | Report card