How Jackson Arnold Assured Brent Venables' Belief in Him as Oklahoma's QB

After losing two fumbles in a loss to Missouri, Arnold came through for the Sooners with zero turnovers to help upset No. 7 Alabama.

Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold / William Purnell-Imagn Images

Even after his quarterback fumbled twice in a loss at Missouri, Oklahoma coach Brent Venables assured he still believed in Jackson Arnold.

And after his next outing – a 24-3 upset over mighty Alabama on Saturday night – Venables is no longer Arnold's only believer. 

Arnold was unconventional as a QB1 leading the Sooners (6-5, 2-5 SEC) against then-No. 7 Bama, but he still led his team to where it needed to get. He threw only 11 passes – completing nine of them – and amassed a measly 68 passing yards. But he did what he had to do. Arnold rushed the ball 25 times, getting hit nearly every time and coming out only once so senior Casey Thompson could take the final snap. Arnold led the team with 131 rushing yards, averaging 5.2 yards an attempt. 

“He's been fearless,” Venables said Monday night during his weekly coach’s show. “He has been showing up every single day with great purpose and great focus. He cares about his performance and he cares about his opportunity, cares about his teammates, and he's worked really hard. He'll do whatever we ask of him. And again, you've seen a guy that is having to overcome some things along his journey here, and not unlike anybody else that plays. So a lot of focus and scrutiny comes with that position, and some of it's justified and some of it's not, but he made some really good plays in this game, both running and throwing. And he made a lot of great decisions all night long that helped keep us into a great rhythm. … 

“This isn't the Sisters of the Poor that he's doing that against. This is real dudes with lots of stars and length and speed and violence. And in many ways it was just a really clean performance.”

There was a bye week between, but in Arnold’s last outing, he literally fumbled the game away and even had a stat line that became a meme on social media. At halftime against Missouri, Arnold had the same amount of passing yards, 43, as punter Luke Elzinga, who completed a pass on a fake punt. Obviously that unique stat caught some attention. 

In fact, Elizinga’s completion and freshman running back Taylor Tatum’s 18-yard touchdown pass on a trick play were the Sooners’ only completions of more than 10 yards. Arnold finished the game 15-of-24 for 74 yards and no touchdown with a 23.9 QBR. 

That passing total was still more than what Arnold posted against Bama, but against Missouri, Arnold rushed for only 45 yards on 17 carries. He also lost two fumbles. He fumbled first on the opening drive of the game but fell on it for an 11-yard loss, forcing OU to punt. On the next possession, Arnold fumbled again, but this time wasn't able to recover it. Fortunately for Arnold, though, Mizzou didn’t turn that turnover into points. 

But then Arnold finished the game how he started it. With the score locked 23-23, and the Sooners having one minute to either win the game or do nothing and go to overtime, Arnold fumbled again on the third play of the drive. Zion Young picked it and ran for a 17-yard touchdown to put the Tigers ahead 30-23 with 22 seconds left. That was it. 

Arnold owned it the next week, though. 

“I can't fumble like that, can't turn the ball over, but at the same time, we've got two more games,” Arnold said. “We've got two more great teams we've got to play, so we've got to put it behind us and move forward."

That mature response alone could have been enough for Venables to not only keep Arnold as his QB1, but even name the sophomore a captain on Senior Night. All that after Arnold served as the backup behind freshman Michael Hawkins for three games before winning back his job – and the team. 

However, as Arnold gets the most criticism as the easiest to criticize because of his position, it’d be unfair to mention he’s had to perform most of this season without his top five wide receivers and with a shuffling offensive line. And there was even a switch at offensive coordinator, play caller and position coach in the midst of all those personnel issues. 

“He's had great toughness all year,” Venables said. “He's still a very young player. He doesn't have this long resume of playing in college. And then everybody around him, he's judged on his own, but in reality, good quarterbacks are good quarterbacks because you're good around them.

“And there's not more talented quarterbacks than Jackson Arnold out there. He's as talented as they come. And, again, he's – what you're seeing is kind of a byproduct of just a young quarterback that everybody around him is getting a little bit better.”