Oklahoma left the Big House with a loss, but not everyone left Ann Arbor with their stock pointing in the same direction.
The Sooners’ 17-10 defeat to Michigan was an offensive slog for much of the afternoon, and there are plenty of questions to answer before New Mexico comes to Norman on Saturday. But even in a game where Oklahoma managed only 10 points, there were individual performances worth buying into.
There were also some warning signs.
So, as we turn the page from the Big House to the next chapter of the season, it’s time for this week’s Sooners Stock Report.
📈 STOCK UP: Rocky Beers
94 yards. Six catches. 15.7 yards per reception.
There wasn’t much consistency in Oklahoma’s passing game Saturday, but there was one pretty obvious constant:
When John Mateer needed a play, Rocky Beers kept making them.
The Colorado State transfer tied his career high for both receptions and yards with six receptions and 94 receiving yards.
That’s not just a nice statistical afternoon. It’s significant because of the way Beers produced it.
Michigan made life difficult for Oklahoma’s wide receivers, and the Wolverines’ defensive front consistently compressed the pocket. Beers became one of the few reliable answers available to Mateer.
He found space. He caught the football. And he created yards after the catch.
For an offense that desperately needs dependable answers in the middle of the field, Beers is beginning to look like one.
Stock: 🚀 Strong Buy
📈 STOCK UP: Trell Harris
Harris didn’t have Beers’ statistical explosion, but his performance may have been every bit as encouraging when you consider the opportunities he received.
Four catches on six targets for 43 yards.
That’s production.
Harris wasn’t force-fed the football. He wasn’t targeted 10 times. He simply made the most of the opportunities that came his way.
And that’s exactly what Oklahoma needs from its receiver room.
The Sooners struggled to consistently create separation against Michigan’s physical secondary. In that environment, maximizing the targets you receive becomes even more important.
Harris did that.
The next step is getting him more involved.
Stock: 📈 Rising
📉 STOCK DOWN: The Connection Between John Mateer and Isaiah Sategna III
This one requires some nuance.
The problem isn’t that Oklahoma doesn’t want to get Isaiah Sategna III the football.
The Sooners clearly do.
Sategna led Oklahoma with 10 targets Saturday.
The problem is that those 10 opportunities produced just two catches for nine yards.
That’s a massive disconnect.
Sategna is one of Oklahoma’s most explosive weapons. If you’re targeting him 10 times, the expectation has to be that he’s going to influence the game.
Instead, Michigan largely prevented that from happening.
Some of the blame belongs to the quarterback. Some belongs to protection. Some belongs to Michigan’s secondary.
And that’s precisely why this needs to be viewed as a passing-game problem, rather than simply a Sategna problem.
Oklahoma has to figure out how to get Sategna into situations where Mateer can consistently deliver the football to him.
Because 10 targets for nine yards isn’t sustainable.
And if the Sooners are going to eventually beat teams like Georgia and Texas, they cannot have one of their premier playmakers essentially removed from the game despite being targeted so often.
Stock: 📉 Needs a Rebound
➡️ STOCK HOLDING: Lloyd Avant
This isn’t a criticism of Avant.
It’s more a reflection of what he was asked to do.
Avant carried the ball just nine times for 35 yards, an average of 3.9 yards per carry.
Michigan made running the football extremely difficult, and Oklahoma never established the kind of downhill rushing attack that could have taken pressure off Mateer.
That’s not something a running back can fix by himself.
Avant continues to look like a back Oklahoma can use, but the offensive line has to give him somewhere to go.
Stock: ➡️ Holding
📈 STOCK UP: Owen Heinecke
When Oklahoma needed somebody to make plays defensively, Heinecke continued to show up.
He finished with a game-high 10 tackles, including a sack.
It was the third double-digit tackling performance of his career, and he continues to establish himself as one of the most dependable pieces of this defense.
Dating back to last season, Heinecke has recorded at least five tackles in seven of his last eight games and at least half a tackle for loss in eight consecutive contests.
That’s consistency.
And after losing Kip Lewis during the game, Oklahoma needed it.
Stock: 📈 Rising
Take A Deeper Dive Into Our Oklahoma Football Coverage On Our Facebook Subscription Hub
Help support Heartland Sports by Unlocking Exclusive, data-driven film room breakdowns, recruiting Update, high-leverage personnel matrix updates you won’t find anywhere else, and More by subscribing to our premium Oklahoma Sooners football coverage today.
The Trench Report | Oklahoma’s Offensive Line Has More Questions Than Answers After Michigan
Rocky Beers Didn’t Save Oklahoma At Michigan, But He May Have Changed Its Offense
Anatomy Of A Stagnent Attack | Why Oklahoma’s Offensive Woes Went Far Beyond The Trenches In Add Arbor
📈 STOCK UP: Taylor Wein
Wein’s stat line tells another story about how well Oklahoma’s defense competed despite the final result.
He posted a career-high six tackles, recorded 1.5 tackles for loss and forced a fumble.
He entered the season as one of the most experienced and important pieces on the defensive line, and Saturday he looked the part.
Oklahoma held Michigan to 263 total yards and only 75 yards on 25 plays in the second half.
The defense did more than enough to give the Sooners a chance.
Stock: 📈 Rising
📈 STOCK UP: Jayden Jackson
Jackson quietly had one of the better games of his young career.
He finished with a career-high six tackles and added a tackle for loss.
His previous career high was five tackles, a mark he had reached twice.
Michigan’s offense wasn’t explosive, but that was largely the point. Oklahoma’s defense consistently forced the Wolverines to work for everything.
Jackson was part of that effort.
Stock: 📈 Rising
📈 STOCK UP: Reggie Powers III
Powers made his presence felt in the trenches with four tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.
It was the second sack of his career and gives him 4.5 career tackles for loss.
Again, this is where the larger defensive picture matters.
Oklahoma lost the game, but its defense held Michigan to 263 yards, just 111 through the air, and 4-of-13 on third down.
That’s a defense giving its offense opportunities.
Stock: 📈 Rising
📈 STOCK UP: Grayson Miller
Field position was a huge part of this game, and Miller did his job.
The Oklahoma punter averaged 48.6 yards on five punts, with three punts of at least 50 yards and three downed inside the 20.
His biggest punt came with 4:43 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Sixty-two yards.
It pinned Michigan at its own 1-yard line.
In a 17-10 game decided by field position and one late turnover, those kinds of plays matter.
Stock: 📈 Rising
➡️ STOCK HOLDING: Tate Sandell
Sandell was 1-for-1 on field goals.
His 34-yarder tied the game at 10 with 11:49 remaining in the fourth quarter. He also made his only PAT attempt.
That makes him 3-for-3 on field goals this season and 27-for-30 on field goals as a Sooner.
There isn’t a reason to ding Sandell for Saturday.
In fact, in a game where Oklahoma desperately needed points, he delivered the opportunities he was given.
Stock: ➡️ Holding Steady
📊 The Sooner Stock Exchange
| Player | Stock | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Rocky Beers | 🚀 Strong Buy | Career-level production with 94 receiving yards |
| Trell Harris | 📈 Rising | Four catches on six targets; maximized his opportunities |
| Owen Heinecke | 📈 Rising | Game-high 10 tackles and a sack |
| Taylor Wein | 📈 Rising | Career-high six tackles, 1.5 TFL, forced fumble |
| Jayden Jackson | 📈 Rising | Career-high six tackles |
| Reggie Powers III | 📈 Rising | Sack and two TFL |
| Grayson Miller | 📈 Rising | 48.6-yard average; three punts inside the 20 |
| Lloyd Avant | ➡️ Holding | Tough assignment behind a struggling run-blocking unit |
| Tate Sandell | ➡️ Holding Steady | Perfect 1-for-1 on field goals |
| Isaiah Sategna III | 📉 Needs a Rebound | Two catches on a team-high 10 targets |
The Bottom Line
The interesting thing about Oklahoma’s loss isn’t that the stock report is filled with red.
It isn’t.
The Sooners actually got some encouraging individual performances out of Ann Arbor, particularly on defense.
The bigger problem is that the players who need to become offensive difference-makers weren’t consistently able to do so.
Beers emerged.
Harris took advantage of his chances.
But Sategna’s 10-target, two-catch afternoon and the continued inconsistency of the passing game are impossible to ignore.
And that’s the biggest question heading into New Mexico:
Can Oklahoma turn individual flashes into an offensive identity?
Because the defense showed Saturday that it can keep the Sooners in games.
Now the offense has to start giving it some help.