Oklahoma
Why Venables Thought Oklahoma QB Jackson Arnold Played His Best Game against Ole Miss
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables believes Jackson Arnold’s return as QB1 was his best outing yet this season.
After being benched Week 4 against Tennessee and serving as freshman Michael Hawkins Jr.’s backup for three games, Arnold, a sophomore, was the starter once again when the Sooners played Ole Miss on Saturday in Oxford. It was the first time since Week 3 against Tulane that Arnold started and finished a game, and only the third time he’s played a complete game this season.
Arnold was the presumed starter when the season began after making his first start in OU’s bowl game last year after Dillon Gabriel entered the transfer portal. Even after that one rocky start, Arnold was thought to be the future face of the program as a 5-star recruit out of Denton (TX) Guyer High School.
Although the Sooners lost 26-14 on Saturday and Arnold’s stats won’t garner him any weekly awards, his head coach was still impressed with the performance and the offense’s improvement overall, especially considering the circumstances.
“Jackson gets a lot of credit,” Venables said Monday during his weekly coach’s show. “That position, as we know, a lot of times, he gets way too much blame and way too much credit. But again, that was easily, again, playing the team that he’s playing as well on top of all that, his best game of the season.”
Jackson finished with 182 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns while completing 71% of his passes, which was a career-best. He was most dangerous with his legs, though, at least when given the chance.
He carried the ball 24 times for 39 yards. However, Arnold accomplished all that he did while his offensive line gave up a program-record 10 sacks, which Venables said Monday night was only seven true sacks considering the other three were on designed quarterback runs that went for a loss.
If those 10 sacks were erased from the stat sheet, Arnold would have rushed for 103 yards. That would have been a career-high for Arnold and also would have been the first time this season an OU player rushed for over 100 yards in a game.
The only blemish Arnold had as a ball carrier was a fumble when he was sacked for an 11-yard loss.
“(Arnold) had a winning performance when it comes to making decisions and accuracy and taking care of the ball,” Venables said. “Again, the mesh charge, he had no chance on the fumble, and they’re in a really good call to disrupt the play. The back’s got to be over. He’s got to align a little more precise that potentially can help you. That’s a nice play there.
“Again, I thought several times he kept his eyes down the field under pressure, bought some time with his legs and then make good decisions about when to keep it and then when to deliver it, and they did a nice job play design to have some outlets and some check downs too, that they had a chance to gain positive yardage, as well.”
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA (KOKH) — The Oklahoma City Fire Department responded to a home fire late Tuesday evening, around 10:42 p.m.
According to OKCFD, fire could be seen from a window of the home located in the 4200 block of N. Phillips Avenue.
Firefighters were able to rescue an adult female from inside the home. No injuries were reported in connection with the fire.
Investigators believe that the fire may have originated from an outlet near the refrigerator that had a power strip plugged in that was supplying multiple appliances.
There was also no smoke detector present within the home.
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NORMAN — The Sooners were behind the eight ball for much of Tuesday’s game against Oral Roberts.
But one swing of the bat got them in a more favorable position.
Shortstop Jaxon Willits blasted a grand slam in the sixth inning to give No. 14 Oklahoma its first lead before eventually winning 7-6.
The Sooners trailed by as many as five runs before they rallied late.
In the first inning, Oral Roberts’ Cooper Combs hit a two-out grand slam to give the Golden Eagles a comfortable cushion. OU infielder Deiten Lachance got the Sooners on the board in the second inning with a solo home run, but ORU responded with a solo shot of its own in the next frame.
The Golden Eagles made it a 6-1 run game in the top of the fourth, and they appeared to be on cruise control. But in the bottom of that frame, OU’s rally began.
Dasan Harris made it a four-run game again with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth before Camden Johnson hit a sacrifice fly of his own in the fifth.
Then, in the sixth, the Sooners took their first lead of the game.
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Harris singled before Kyle Branch and Connor Larkin walked to load the bases. Willits then swung at the first pitch he saw, sending it well over the right-center field fence.
Neither team scored after Willits’ home run, as OU relief pitcher Xander Mercurius retired nine ORU batters in a row to seal the Sooners’ one-run win.
Michael Catalano started on the mound for Oklahoma, but his outing was short-lived — he gave up four earned runs on two hits and five walks in 1 ⅓ innings.
After coach Skip Johnson relieved Catalano in the second inning, six different OU arms entered the game. Reid Hensley collected the win, while Mercurius got the save.
OU improved to 28-12 overall with the win, while Oral Roberts dropped to 23-15. The Sooners are 7-3 in midweek games this season, and they clinched the season sweep of the Golden Eagles on Tuesday.
Next, the Sooners will hit the road for a three-game series against Auburn. The Tigers, ranked No. 11 by D1Baseball, are 10-8 in SEC play and took two of three games against Florida over the weekend.
The series will open on Friday, and first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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NORMAN — After an up-and down week that saw Oklahoma drop the lone Bedlam match of the season, and then split two tight games with Arkansas before blowing out the Razorbacks on Sunday, the Sooners remained No. 1 in the NFCA/Go Rout coaches’ poll released Tuesday.
But there’s far from a consensus.
Oklahoma received 12 first-place votes — the same total they had last week — but five other teams received first-place votes.
Texas Tech remained No. 2 with four four-place votes and Alabama No. 3 with seven. Nebraska moved up two spots to No. 4 with four first-place votes, followed by Florida with two and UCLA with two.
Texas is No. 7, followed by Tennessee, Arkansas and Florida State.
Texas A&M, the Sooners’ opponent for the final regular-season weekend in two weeks, comes in at No. 11.
Other SEC teams include Georgia at No. 15, Mississippi State at No. 17 and LSU at No. 20.
OU hosts the Georgia Bulldogs in a three-game series beginning Friday.
Other Sooners’ opponents this season in the polls include No. 14 Duke, No. 18 Oklahoma State, No. 19 Arizona, No. 24 Arizona State and No. 25 Washington.
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Oklahoma also remained in the top spot in the D1Softball poll, with Alabama No. 2 there followed by Texas Tech, Nebraska at Texas.
The Sooners dropped a spot in the Softball America poll, with Nebraska elevating to No. 1 behind the two-way stardom of former OU standout Jordy Frahm (formerly Jordy Bahl).
Frahm is 13-4 with a 1.36 ERA and 157 strikeouts in 118 2/3 innings in the circle and hitting .440 with 16 home runs and 42 RBIs. Another former Sooners player, Hannah Coor, is among the Cornhuskers’ regulars as well.
The Sooners have 158 home runs, just three away from tying their own season record in the category, but UCLA has closed the gap in a major way, sitting just four behind Oklahoma.
OU freshman sensation Kendall Wells leads the nation with 34 home runs, three ahead of UCLA’s Megan Grant. Wells tied Jocelyn Alo‘s program record for home runs in a season with her home run in Sunday’s win.
The Sooners host Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 6 p.m. Tuesday in their final non-conference game of the season before opening the series against Georgia at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Love’s FIeld.
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