Oklahoma's offense took a significant step forward Saturday.

It still wasn't perfect, and the Sooners still had to go down to the wire, but OU came out with a 23-15 win over Mississippi State on Saturday in Stakrville, Miss.

John Mateer protected the ball, the Sooners had a strong rushing attack, and the defense did what it needed to do against former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby's Bulldogs.

Here's a look at a much more balanced edition of the positional report card:

Quarterback: A-

How about this?

John Mateer had by far his best game of the season,

Mateer's day was punctuated by his dive on third-and-5 after he couldn't find an open receiver and instead scrambled for the first down, diving for the line-to-gain and holding onto the football. Then he hit tight end Rocky Beers for a 13-yard completion on third down to put the game away.

Mateer finished 22 of 29 for a season-high 283 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions and had nine carries for 37 yards.

If Mateer can play like this the rest of the season, the Sooners season figures to look much, much better.

On the touchdown drive late in the second quarter that sent Oklahoma into the locker room up 10-0, Mateer was 6 for 7 and had three critical runs to keep the drive alive.

Running Back: B

Offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said earlier this week that Tory Blaylock was rounding into the form which made him the Sooners' leading rushter last season as a freshman.

Arbuckle's observation looked spot on as Blaylock broke off a 47-yard run on the first play of the second half.

Blaylock finished with 71 yards on 12 carries, more than doubling his production from the first six games.

It wasn't just Blaylock, though.

Lloyd Avant ran for 55 yards on 13 carries, including a 19-yard carry.

The Sooners finished with a season-high 184 yards on the ground.

Wide Receivers: B-

Isaiah Sategna continues to prove himself as a top-flight receiver.

He had none only eight catches for 164 yards and a touchdown — a 36-yarder in the second quarter — but also had three carries for 24 yards as Arbuckle used the star receiver in the running game as well with some motions and other wrinkles to spread the field horizontally.

But the rest of the wide receivers had just three catches for 14 yards as the tight ends and running backs made up the bulk of the production in the passing game outside of Sategna.

Jer'Michael Carter had a 6-yard catch, Manny Choice and Jacob Jordan had catches of three yards.

But at least Mateer spread the ball around, and the Sooners would take this type of performance all day long.

Tight Ends: B

About the only things that keep this from being an A is Rocky Beers' fumble that gave the Bulldogs the ball early in the third quarter and Beers' drop of a potential touchdown catch later.

But Beers finished with four catches for 66 yards and a touchdown. Among his catches were the game-clinching third-down conversion in the waning seconds.

Hayden Hansen had a 5-yard catch while Jack Van Doreselae had two catches for 8 yards.

Offensive Line: B+

The left side of the offensive line was set with Michael Fasusi's return.

With Fasusi at tackle and Noah Best at left guard, the difference was notable.

The right side continued to be an issue with Peyton Joseph had a couple of penalties, including a 15-yarder on a play that otherwise would've set the Sooners up with first and goal.

Oklahoma also suffered yet another loss on the offensive line when center Jake Maikkula left the game with an apparent leg injury in the third quarter.

But replacement Caleb Nitta did a strong job after entering the game, giving some hope to a group that was without Ryan Fodje and Eddy Pierre-Louis.

Defensive Line: A

The defensive front set the tone from the jump with a sack from Adepoju Adebawore on the second play of the game. Then David Stone added a sack on the second drive of the game.

On Mississippi State's first drive of the second half, Adebawore and Stone teamed up for a combo sack.

Stone finished with seven tackles while Jayden Jackson had six and Taylor Wein five.

Linebackers: B

Owen Heinecke's team-high 10 tackles included a crutcial sack on fourth down.

Heinecke wasn't 100% but still performed well overall.

Kip Lewis had five tackles.

The Sooners suffered a hit to their depth with the injury of Cole Sullivan in the second half.

Defensive Backs: B

Even before Peyton Bowen's fourth-quarter interception that ended what looked like a promising Bulldogs' drive, the safety was having an excellent game.

Unfortunately for the Sooners, Bowen took a big hit on his interception return and was banged up. His status moving forward is unknown.

He finished with seven tackles.

While the day had been mostly excellent, Michael Boganowski gave up Sanfrisco Magee's 42-yard touchdown reception with 2:10 remaining and then Courtland Guillory wasn't able to stop Magee from hauling in the two-point conversion try.

Reggie Powers III was banged up in the win as well.

Special Teams: C-

Tate Sandell hit field goals of 42, 30, and 38 yards but missed on a pair of 45 yarders and a 41-yarder.

The reigning Lou Groza Award winner entered the game on a bit of a roll but inconsistency continues to be an issue.

On the third miss, Sandell hit the initial 36-yard kick but the Sooners were flagged for having more than four players in the backfield.

Sandell's 41-yarder then went just wide left. The Sooners were flagged for the same penalty on that play, but Mississippi State declined the flag.

Sategna didn't have much room to work on punt returns with just one for a two-yard less.

Punter Jacob Ulrich didn't have to work much either with a pair of punts for 85 total yards.

But Oklahoma held the Bulldogs with just nine return yards and no field-goal tries.