NORMAN — The question has never been about if John Mateer can win at Oklahoma, it's always if he can avoid mistakes. Specifically, if he makes mistakes, does he flush them away or do they snowball?

Against Kentucky, Mateer went back to bad habits. Those mistakes built upon themselves and OU's great chance to follow up an upset win over Texas with another ranked win quickly died. Ryan Fodje's injury may have had an impact on Mateer's fourth-quarter blunders, however.

But against Mississippi State, Mateer showed that he can start games well and sustain. Even when mistakes were made around him, Mateer kept making plays when the Sooners needed him to.

Yes, they may not do the whole defense thing well in Starkville, but this is a quarterback and an offense grasping for any form of momentum. Brent Venables seems to think so.

“We’ve been saying how much we believe in him and trust him, what we watch," Venables said on Tuesday. "He has a body of work, we know what his best football looks like."

Mateer was decisive and efficient.

He threw 22-29 passes and helped lead Oklahoma's largest offensive output against a conference opponent since joining the SEC. Despite the offense stalling twice in the red zone to settle for field goals — with another red zone opportunity nullified by a questionable chop block penalty — Mateer did not let Sooner follies build; he made plays to rebound.

"It's just staying in the moment," Mateer said on Monday. I mean things are gonna happen. It's an imperfect game. That's why everybody loves it. That's why it's the greatest game. You can learn so much."

The challenge for Venables and company is to continue putting Mateer in positive environments to succeed. The Sooners need to continue building their once-non-existent run game into a positive force. Doing so helps bring out the Mateer that Venables sees in practice.

"It’s in there. You want to get it out of him," Venables said. "You do have to coach him and lean on his strengths and pull him through some rough spots. Last week was what we all expected and hope for. Hopefully this will be an opportunity for him to continue to perform at the level that we need him to to have a chance to win games and for everybody to kind of complement each other."

Mateer appears to be improving in his handling of the pressure he's dealt with since the beginning of the season.

"Staying in the moment, knowing who I am, trusting in the week of preparation and just playing free," Mateer said. "One play could go bad, but the next play matters."

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