There are wins you celebrate.
There are wins you appreciate.
And then there are wins you simply put in the bank and move on.
Oklahoma’s 14-6 victory over New Mexico on Saturday night falls firmly into that third category.
The Sooners are 2-1, they avoided consecutive losses after falling to Michigan the previous week, and they enter SEC play next Saturday against No. 2 Georgia with a winning record.
But if Oklahoma was looking for answers on offense, it didn’t find many.
The Sooners managed just 299 total yards against New Mexico, rushed for only 61 yards and turned the ball over three times. Meanwhile, Brent Venables’ defense once again proved it can carry this football team, limiting a New Mexico offense that had scored 70 points the previous week to just 185 total yards.
So, what did we learn?
Here are five takeaways from Oklahoma’s ugly win over the Lobos.
1. Oklahoma’s Defense Is Legitimately Good Enough to Keep the Sooners in Games
Let’s start with the obvious.
If Oklahoma is going to compete in the SEC this season, this defense is going to have to be the foundation.
And through three games, it has looked the part.
New Mexico entered Norman with a rushing attack averaging 246 yards per game. Oklahoma held the Lobos to 69 rushing yards.
The Lobos finished with just 185 total yards and never found the end zone.
Oklahoma’s pass rush was particularly disruptive, producing six sacks and consistently making life uncomfortable for New Mexico quarterbacks Toa Fa’avae and Luke Moga.
And when Oklahoma absolutely had to have a stop, the defense delivered.
With less than three minutes remaining and New Mexico facing fourth-and-1 at the Oklahoma 17-yard line, defensive tackle David Stone stuffed New Mexico running back Scottre Humphrey to end the threat.
That was the play of the game.
Oklahoma’s offense didn’t win this game.
The defense did.
And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
But the Sooners cannot expect their defense to hold SEC opponents to six or 10 points every Saturday.
Eventually, the offense is going to have to meet this defense somewhere in the middle.
2. The Running Game Is a Massive Problem
This is the issue that should have Oklahoma fans the most concerned heading into Athens.
The Sooners rushed for 61 yards on 32 attempts, an average of just 1.9 yards per carry.
Lloyd Avant led Oklahoma with only 27 rushing yards.
Against New Mexico.
That is a problem.
And it isn’t simply about the running backs.
There were too many plays where the offensive line couldn’t create movement at the point of attack. New Mexico was able to disrupt Oklahoma’s blocking schemes with movement up front, and the Sooners repeatedly found themselves trying to manufacture yards that simply weren’t there.
That creates problems everywhere else.
If Oklahoma can’t run the football, defenses don’t have to respect the run.
If defenses don’t respect the run, they can put more pressure on John Mateer.
And if Mateer is consistently operating in obvious passing situations, the entire offense becomes easier to defend.
That’s a dangerous formula when the next opponent is Georgia.
The Sooners don’t need to become a 250-yard rushing team overnight.
But they have to find a way to make the ground game functional.
1.9 yards per carry isn’t functional.
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3. John Mateer Still Has Plenty to Clean Up
Mateer’s final numbers will probably look better than the actual performance felt.
He completed 19 of 25 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns, connecting with Hayden Hansen for a 29-yard score and Isaiah Sategna III for a 53-yard touchdown.
Those are respectable numbers.
But the two interceptions are the part that can’t be ignored.
Mateer continues to look uncomfortable at times when the pocket collapses, and some of the decisions he made Saturday put unnecessary pressure on an offense that already isn’t generating much on the ground.
That’s the frustrating part.
We’ve seen what Mateer can look like when he’s playing freely.
We’ve also seen what happens when defenses make him uncomfortable.
Michigan exposed some of those issues.
New Mexico didn’t necessarily fix them.
That’s going to be the challenge for Ben Arbuckle this week.
How do you get your quarterback into situations where he can play fast, trust his reads and use his athleticism without asking him to constantly overcome poor down-and-distance situations?
One answer could be using Mateer’s legs more deliberately.
The Sooners need to find ways to make him part of the rushing equation, particularly if the traditional running game continues to struggle.
Against Georgia, there won’t be many wasted opportunities.
4. Isaiah Sategna III Is Becoming a Necessary Piece of This Offense
One player who continues to give Oklahoma’s offense a legitimate spark is Isaiah Sategna III.
Sategna finished Saturday night with 101 receiving yards, including the 53-yard touchdown that gave Oklahoma its largest lead of the night.
That play was exactly what Oklahoma needs more of.
Explosive.
Simple.
Efficient.
The Sooners don’t necessarily need to throw the ball 40 times.
But they do need to create explosive plays when opportunities present themselves, and Sategna has demonstrated that he can be that player.
With Trell Harris unavailable, Oklahoma needs other receivers to consistently create separation and give Mateer trustworthy targets.
Sategna is doing his part.
Now Oklahoma needs more help around him.
The upcoming SEC schedule will expose whether the rest of the receiver room can provide it.
5. Now the Real Season Begins
Maybe this is the most important takeaway of all.
The nonconference portion of Oklahoma’s schedule is over.
The Sooners are 2-1, and the next team waiting for them is No. 2 Georgia.
Then comes Texas.
Oklahoma’s next game is at Georgia on Saturday, September 26, with kickoff scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT. Texas follows on October 10 at Oklahoma.
That’s why Saturday night’s performance feels so strange.
The Sooners accomplished the most important thing: they won.
But they also walked away from the game with more offensive questions than answers.
Can the offensive line create movement?
Can Oklahoma establish a reliable running game?
Can Mateer eliminate the costly mistakes?
Can Arbuckle find an identity that works against SEC defenses?
Those aren’t questions Oklahoma can afford to carry indefinitely.
Because Georgia isn’t New Mexico.
And neither is Texas.
The good news is that Oklahoma has something extremely valuable heading into the SEC portion of the schedule:
A defense that looks capable of keeping the Sooners in almost any game.
The bad news is that the offense hasn’t shown that it can consistently capitalize on it.
That’s the next challenge.
The Michigan loss was supposed to be a wake-up call.
The New Mexico game was supposed to be the response.
Instead, Oklahoma got the win and another warning.
The defense is ready for SEC play.
Now the offense has to catch up.