John Mateer didn’t sugarcoat what it was like to play through the broken bone in his right thumb against Auburn.
The Oklahoma quarterback opened up about the injury that came in the first quarter of the Sooners’ 24-17 win in Norman last September, and he made it clear the whole thing was a miserable experience - even if he’s not dwelling on it now.
"I have no regrets in the challenge I put myself through. Obviously, it didn’t work out.
Like, it sucked. We all watched it.
I’m not saying that. But it’s just the result.
I learned a lot, and you learn that you can adapt, and then in the offseason, go back," Mateer said.
The numbers tell the story of two different versions of Mateer before and after the injury. Before it happened, he completed 67.4% of his passes, threw 11 total touchdowns and had three interceptions.
Afterward, he finished at 59.4% completions with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions. The schedule helped pad some of those early numbers, but the drop-off was still obvious once the thumb injury hit.
Still, the tone from Mateer is about moving forward, not looking back. After what he showed at the Manning Passing Academy, it’s fair to wonder if he’s fully past it and ready to be a problem for defenses this fall.
Elsewhere in the SEC conversation, FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt made a familiar prediction: Georgia and Alabama could be right back in the thick of the conference race when the season reaches championship time.
Klatt pointed to the recent history between the two powers while making his case for their Week 6 meeting being one of the biggest games on the slate.
“You got to think about the last 12 SEC championship games. Either Georgia or Alabama have been in every single one of them, and either Georgia or Alabama has won 11 of the last 12. The only SEC team to win an SEC title not named Georgia or Alabama is LSU with Joe Burrow," Klatt said.
The two programs have split the recent spotlight in different ways. Alabama has taken the last two regular-season matchups, but Georgia handled the Tide 28-7 in the SEC title game in December. Both teams then fell in the second round of the CFP, a finish that left plenty of questions hanging over each side.
Georgia enters 2026 carrying a chip after losing to Ole Miss in the postseason, while Alabama is walking into the year with real pressure attached to it. The Week 6 showdown figures to shape plenty of the biggest storylines in the conference before the dust settles.
In Other News...
Auburn Faces A Tense Finish For Coveted Athlete Tae Walden Jr
The race for Tae Walden Jr. is heading into decision time, and the four-star athlete has given recruiters across the SEC and beyond plenty to sweat over. Scheduled to announce his commitment July 1 on the Rivals YouTube channel, Walden has drawn interest from Auburn, LSU, Georgia, Ole Miss and Oregon after standing out as one of the top athletes in the 2027 class.
For Ole Miss, the intrigue is obvious because Walden remains in the mix with some of the sports heavy hitters and has shown the kind of two-way production that keeps staffs coming back. His latest stop was at Oregon, where he met with Dan Lanning, adding another layer to a recruitment that has stayed crowded and competitive as the announcement approaches. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Offense Faces One Massive Test After Lane Kiffins Exit
The Lane Kiffin era is over in Oxford, but the expectations on Ole Miss' offense are not. Pete Golding steps in after running the defense, and he inherits a roster that still has Trinidad Chambliss under center and Kewan Lacy in the backfield, a pairing that gives the Rebels a chance to stay among the SEC's most dangerous units even with a new voice in charge.
Chambliss is coming off a season that put him at the top of the league in passing, and the next step is proving that production can carry over through a coaching change. Golding's biggest challenge is preserving the rhythm and aggressiveness that made this offense work while making the transition feel seamless, because with this much talent in place, anything less than a smooth handoff would be hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Guard Is Suddenly Carrying Bigger Expectations Into This Season
Chris Beard is heading into his fourth season in charge at Ole Miss, and the roster has shifted enough that the Rebels are once again trying to define who will drive them forward. In that setting, sophomore guard Patton Pinkins has become one of the more interesting names to watch, especially with SEC preview season starting to sort teams into tiers and separate the clubs expected to contend from the ones still searching for traction.
Ole Miss has been slotted 12th in the league by CBS Sports analyst Jon Rothstein, which makes the margin for progress feel even smaller. For a team trying to climb, the pressure is on players like Pinkins to turn promise into production and give Beard a steadier foundation as the season approaches. [Read more 🡒]