GAINESVILLE, Fla. — John Mateer did just enough with his legs and arm under new playcaller Jason Witten, and Oklahoma‘s tough defense took care of the rest Saturday night as the Sooners throttled No. 25 Florida in a 23-7 victory.
Mateer threw a pair of short touchdown passes, the last one to Isaiah Sategna III that capped a 20-play, 89-yard drive and put the Gators in a position of having to rally in the final five minutes when they had trouble scoring all game.
The Sooners (5-4, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) fired offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, and Witten, the Dallas Cowboys’ former tight end who was coaching high school in suburban Texas last year, took over on an interim basis.
“Bragging on his ambition, and his excitement for the opportunity, you can’t fabricate that,” Sooners coach Brent Venables said of Witten. “And I certainly didn’t want someone to put a toe in the water, when willing to do it. I wanted someone who saw how good we could be.”
Under Witten, the Sooners didn’t dazzle — they had only one play longer than 20 yards — but they were efficient, particularly on the clinching drive that took 12:45 off the clock. They converted five third-down plays on the drive.
“Really complete performance,” Venables said. “Just really clean football game, with complementary football. Thought we really dominated the line of scrimmage.”
The Gators (5-4, 3-4) appeared in the College Football Playoff ranking for the first time since 2020 and won’t stick around. The offense looked anemic under quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. The Gators’ longest play from scrimmage was a 33-yard pass to Duke Clark in the flats.
That drive ended when Florida coach Jon Sumrall went for it on fourth-and-3 from the 17 with Oklahoma up 13-7 and 6:27 left in the third quarter. Jones was on his back foot and threw across the field to an open Eric Singleton Jr., but Courtland Guillory caught up with it and picked off the pass in the end zone.
Mateer was 21-of-33 for 214 yards and had 56 yards rushing. Meanwhile, OU’s defense held Florida to 203 yards. Jones was 10-of-22 for 133 yards, 34 of those on the final drive when Oklahoma was giving him room.
After the Sooners’ 89-yard scoring drive, Florida went four-and-out, with Jones getting sacked on fourth down for the third time. The Swamp quietly emptied.
Venables wanted more offense, as quickly as possible, and instead saw what amounted to a defensive struggle for so much of the game. The Gators’ longest play in the opening half was a 31-yard punt return by Bailey Stockton.
The Sooners scored on their first two possessions. Mateer found tight end Rocky Beers for 41 yards down the sideline to set up a field goal. Oklahoma converted a fourth-and-1 from the Florida 46 to extend a drive that ended on a clever play by Witten. Mateer faked a handoff and a reverse to Sategna and quickly flipped it to a wide-open Hayden Hansen for a 3-yard TD pass and a 10-0 lead.
Jadan Baugh cashed in on Stockton’s punt return with a 15-yard touchdown run in which he stretched for the pylon on a play first ruled to be out of bounds.
The Sooners ended Florida’s streak of winning 48 consecutive games at home against teams visiting the Swamp for the first time. Their only other meetings were in bowl games, including a national title Florida won against Oklahoma in 2008.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
