The Oklahoma Sooners have a problem at quarterback, and it's not getting any better
Oklahoma's offense has been a nightmare this season, battling injuries, a rotating offensive line, a lack of playmakers outside, and a poorly planned scheme that saw them fire offensive coordinator Seth Littrell midseason. However, one last, massive hurdle has crept up at the end of the season that has thrown a wrench in everything: Jackson […]
Oklahoma's offense has been a nightmare this season, battling injuries, a rotating offensive line, a lack of playmakers outside, and a poorly planned scheme that saw them fire offensive coordinator Seth Littrell midseason.
However, one last, massive hurdle has crept up at the end of the season that has thrown a wrench in everything: Jackson Arnold's play.
I was willing to give him a pass with everything else going on around him, but his play against Missouri (and even before then) is simply inexcusable. The offensive line held up and he had both Jalil Farooq and Deion Burks back from injury, yet none of it mattered.
Going through the game, Arnold made an almost uncountable amount of mistakes in just the first half.
His abysmal pocket presence saw him bail on clean pockets and he missed wide-open wide receivers at every level of the field. He kept taking unnecessary sacks and ruined momentum time and time again.
This play was right after Oklahoma called a massive fake punt that gave them some much-needed momentum and set them up first and goal.
Just like that, the momentum is gone. He has a one-on-one opportunity to his best option in Jalil Farooq and he just…falls over into a sack? I'm not sure what he was thinking on that one, but he turned what could have been a momentum shift into a negative.
One more time for good measure, this one on the next play of the drive.
Deion Burks is streaking WIDE open in the end zone on the crossing route, and Arnold just doesn't bother looking his way. Instead, he drops his eyes and bails from a clean pocket to gain just a couple of yards.
All of these plays were from just the first quarter, and it didn't get any better from there. Their longest pass of the day was from their running back, but not for a lack of trying by interim offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley.
One more for good measure here. Oklahoma calls a QB Power Read, where Jackson Arnold is supposed to read the linebackers. While we can debate about the merits of involving Bauer Sharp here instead of any of their other players, look what happens on the play.
All of the linebackers flow with the tight end. Instead of opting to keep it, like he should, Arnold hands the ball off and it promptly goes backward. Because he messed up his read, he turned what likely would have been a big run and likely first down into a negative third and long.
It's unsustainable quarterback play. It is impossible for an offense to function with a quarterback who won't try to execute even the most basic of dropbacks. Concepts are coming open, and Arnold is completely ignoring them downfield.
We haven't even touched on the turnovers he committed, fumbling the ball three times. That's how bad the rest of his play was.
Jackson Arnold lost the Missouri game for Oklahoma. His frequent mistakes drag down the floor and ceiling of Oklahoma's offense, and I'm not sure it can be salvaged. There's just very little on film to defend him with, and it'll make for an uncomfortable discussion in the offseason on his long-term outlook with the Sooners.
