Oklahoma fans are not shying away from the preseason gambling controversy involving starting quarterback John Mateer. They are instead choosing to embrace the suspicious Venmo payments after he got off clean without so much as a slap on the wrist.
Signs promoting ‘Moneyline Mateer’ were everywhere at College Gameday in Norman.
The Sooners were actively taunting the rest of college football. They successfully flipped the narrative.
John Mateer was not found guilty.
This whole thing started in the middle of August. Former Washington State quarterback John Mateer, who is now at Oklahoma, foolishly kept his Venmo payment history open to the public.
Anybody could see who he was paying and for what.
That led to a very interesting discovery. Mateer and his former Cougars teammate sent three suspicious transactions to each other as redshirt freshman.
- Nov. 20, 2022 — John Mateer paid Richard Roaten — “Sports gambling”
- Nov. 20, 2022 — John Mater paid Richard Roaten — “Sports gambling (UCLA vs USC)”
- Nov. 23, 2022 — Richard Roaten paid John Mateer — “Ultra sports gambling fifa World Cup”
As you could imagine, most people assumed that a “sports gambling” tag implied sports gambling. It is illegal for college athletes to gamble on sports.
Mateer wiped his Venmo history shortly after the discovery was posted to social media but screenshots live forever. His alleged sports gambling payments traced back to a gut-wrenching loss in the Pac-12.
Oklahoma fans are embracing Moneyline Mateer.
John Mateer eventually released a statement to clear his name. He claims innocence and blamed the Venmo payments on an inside joke.
And that was that. Everybody moved on. Mateer was not punished. Nothing more came from it.
Opposing fanbases immediately jumped all over the Venmo gambling scandal— with a negative connotation. I encountered a Texas fan who wore this t-shirt at Week 0:
Oklahoma fans completely flipped the narrative at College Gameday on Saturday. A Venmo sign was perched to the right of Kirk Herbstreit, as if to taunt the rest of college football.
They are embracing the moniker ‘Moneyline Mateer’ in a positive way.
The Sooners love their quarterback.
Texas fans must be FUMING! They want John Mateer to be suspended indefinitely. Instead, the Sooners are rubbing their nose in it on national television.