NORMAN, Okla. — It was supposed to be a battle of two quarterbacks. Two quarterbacks leading blue-blood schools in a nationally televised ranked matchup. Two quarterbacks brought in to turn their programs around after respective down years. Two quarterbacks playing in new environments, throwing to new teammates and tasked with dissecting foreign defenses.

One, the highest-ranked recruit in the freshman class. The other, the highest-ranked transfer in last offseason’s portal.

And John Mateer, it turns out, doesn’t care much for storylines.

“I was watching College Game Day this morning, and right when they started talking about our game, I turned it off,” the Oklahoma quarterback said. “I didn’t even want any thoughts to get in my head.”

It’s easy, from afar, to paint narratives over gam

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