Oklahoma walked into Athens needing something bigger than a good showing. What it got instead was a 41-13 beating from Georgia that did more than hand the Sooners their second loss of the season - it ripped open the frustration around a program that expected far more when it entered the SEC.
The score line alone was ugly enough, but the reaction around Oklahoma made it clear this loss landed as more than just another setback. Sooners fans came out of Saturday staring at a team now 2-2 heading into its bye week, and the mood has shifted fast from disappointment to full-blown alarm.
“The Sooners head into their bye week at 2-2 after a humiliating 41-13 loss to No. 2 Georgia on Saturday in Athens,” Dakota Gregory of Stormin In Norman wrote for stormininnorman.com.
“The Bulldogs are serious national title contenders, so a road loss to them wouldn't ever be detrimental, but OU is supposed to be at that level too. Those grueling 60 minutes further proved, though, that Venables' program is a long way from contending for anything.”
That’s where the anger has settled: not just on the result, but on what it says about where Oklahoma is right now. The Sooners are a blue-blood program with a long history, and they joined the SEC with the expectation that their standard would travel with them. Instead, through three seasons, that promise has not turned into the kind of success they imagined.
The backlash is already pointing straight at the offense. Oklahoma fans are calling for quarterback John Mateer to be benched and want offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle gone during the bye week. Those feelings were building before Georgia, but the loss in Athens poured gasoline on them.
“The defense might be stellar, but the offense has been dormant for three seasons now, including the last two with offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and quarterback John Mateer, plus all three behind an abysmal offensive line that's coached by Bill Bedenbaugh. The last three games have shown the Sooners are destined for a failed season with the toughest schedule in the country and no ability to score unless something changes,” Gregory wrote.
And the schedule does Oklahoma no favors. After the bye, the Sooners face No.
1 Texas, a game that would effectively end their season with a loss. After that come Kentucky and Mississippi State, both ranked, with Florida, Ole Miss and Missouri still ahead.
There’s a real chance Oklahoma doesn’t reach a bowl game this season, and if that happens, Saturday in Athens will look like the moment everything started to slip away. The Sooners want to be the kind of program Georgia is right now - a team built to chase SEC titles and national championships every year. But the 41-13 loss made one thing plain: they are nowhere close.
In Other News...
Georgia Has One Dangerous Problem Heading Into Vanderbilt
Georgia has spent this season looking every bit like a team that expects to keep winning, and the matchup with Vanderbilt fits the same script on paper. The Bulldogs are undefeated, favored again, and coming off a run of steady, no-drama performances that have kept them in the thick of the national conversation while the rest of the league keeps trying to catch up.
Still, there is a little extra edge to this one because Vanderbilts quarterback is freshman Jared Curtis, who was once committed to Georgia before ending up with the Commodores. The bigger concern for the Bulldogs, though, is less about the opponent than about themselves and whether they can stay locked in for four quarters, since the season has shown they can control games when they stay sharp and leave openings only when their focus slips. [Read more 🡒]
Kirby Smart Hinted At A Bigger Georgia Role Fans Will Notice
With Vanderbilt next on the schedule, Kirby Smart used his weekly availability to touch on the usual game-week checkpoints and a few broader themes around Georgias roster. He praised Clark Leas work with the Commodores, pointed to players such as Jared Curtis and Thomas Blackshear as part of the discussion, and walked through the kind of injury and practice updates that tend to shape how the Bulldogs prepare from one Saturday to the next.
Smart also spent time on the kind of player development questions Georgia fans tend to notice over the course of a season, offering thoughts on London Humphreys, JJ Hane, Dwight Phillips and Jordan Hall. Taken together, the remarks suggested a coach looking beyond the immediate matchup, with more attention on how individual roles are taking shape and where the Bulldogs may be leaning as SEC play keeps moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
Brock Bowers Is Already Giving Georgia Fans A Reason To Watch
Brock Bowers wasted no time reminding everyone why Georgia fans still track his every move on Sundays. Back from a knee injury, the former Bulldogs star was the focal point of the Las Vegas Raiders offense in a 35-27 win over the New Orleans Saints, piling up 10 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown in a performance that looked awfully familiar to anyone who watched him in Athens.
There was more Georgia flavor in the result, too, with Nakobe Dean leading the Raiders defense with a team-high 12 tackles and helping close the door with a game-sealing fumble recovery. At 3-0, Las Vegas is leaning on multiple former Bulldogs in all three phases, and for Georgia fans, that makes the Raiders an especially relevant watch even before the full story of this season takes shape. [Read more 🡒]