Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables reflects on how the biggest wildcard did after loss to Ole Miss
The biggest wildcard going into the Oklahoma Sooners' game against Ole Miss on Saturday had to be quarterback Jackson Arnold. He made his fiftieth start of the season, but his first since their loss to the Tennessee Volunteers. He was a wildcard because, well, with Seth Littrell gone, Joe John Finley calling plays, and Arnold […]
The biggest wildcard going into the Oklahoma Sooners' game against Ole Miss on Saturday had to be quarterback Jackson Arnold. He made his fiftieth start of the season, but his first since their loss to the Tennessee Volunteers.
He was a wildcard because, well, with Seth Littrell gone, Joe John Finley calling plays, and Arnold being back as the guy and his confidence back, who knew what was going to happen? But, we saw the guy we thought we would see all year long.
Jackson Arnold was always the guy, and that's no shot at Michael Hawkins Jr., but Arnold is just more ready, I guess you could say, to be an SEC quarterback. On Saturday against the Ole Miss Rebels, Arnold played great, actually, and was a big reason the offense even looked serviceable for the entire first half.
Obviously, the third quarter changed things a bit, but the offense was better. Jackson Arnold played well and looked like the guy we all thought he would look like.
"Overall, I thought it was good," Venables said after the game. "We had a chance to go on the road and win that game … he's a talented athletic guy. We had a few designed QB runs … there are a few risk/rewards that are there."
The Sooners made the quarterback change, again, at the right time. They had a chance to win that game, and I'm not sure we could have said the same thing a week ago when they lost in a truly crazy way to the South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Sooners will keep getting better every week with the way the play calling is now, and Arnold will start to gain his confidence back again as well. Then, maybe, hopefully, the Sooners can win two more games so they can make a bowl game.
