Oklahoma Falls to Ole Miss: All You Need to Know

The Sooner offense was better under Joe Jon Finley and Jackson Arnold, but OU's defense couldn't hold up against the dynamic Rebels in the second half.

Mississippi's Suntarine Perkins (4) sacks Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

OXFORD, MS — Oklahoma was certainly better. But being better simply wasn’t good enough.

Against the No. 18-ranked Ole Miss Rebels, the Sooner offense began the post-Seth Littrell era well enough, but ultimately lost 26-14 on an idyllic Saturday afternoon at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

OU fell to 4-4 overall and 1-4 in Southeastern Conference play — not because of its anemic offense, which actually came to life under new play-caller Joe Jon Finley and restored starting quarterback Jackson Arnold, but because of a defense that gave up two big pass plays in the third quarter as Ole Miss regained the lead and eventually pulled away.

Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart completed 22-of-30 passes for 311 yards without his best receiver, Tre Harris, who missed the game with injury.

Arnold finished 22-of-31 for 182 yards as he continued to labor without his five best receivers, although the continued emergence of walk-on Jacob Jordan (he caught his first college touchdown) is promising.

OU was a 20 1/2-point underdog, but the Sooners scored twice in the first half for the first time in SEC play, and actually led at halftime 14-10.

The start couldn’t have been much better for the Oklahoma offense.

Against an Ole Miss defense that led the nation in rushing yards allowed with just 66 per game, the Sooners ran for 125 yards — in the first half alone as running back Jovantae Barnes found space behind a reshuffled offensive line. 

Arnold got sacked twice and lost one fumble, but the OU defense bowed up and held the Rebels to just a field goal.

But Arnold was great the rest of the first half, completing 10-of-13 for 110 yards and two TDs in the opening 30 minutes, plus another 44 yards on a team-high 13 rushes.

Today’s Star

There are two, actually.

The first is Joe Jon Finley. The former OU tight end, who now also coaches tight ends and occasionally dabbled as Seth Littrell’s co-offensive coordinator, took over the play calling duties and acquitted himself extremely well. His call sheet was effective and connected, and his plays tied together and made sense. He didn’t leave the tight ends to block Ole Miss’ big, bad defensive ends, he ran tight ends and backs out of the backfield on wheel routes and check downs (Jovantae Barnes caught three passes for 38 yards in the first half), and he moved the pocket — a LOT — so Jackson Arnold could get away from the pass rush and make something happen on the run. 

That brings us to the other star of the game: the offensive line. Maligned all season for poor pass protection and an inability to clear any space in the run game, things appeared bleak when right tackle Jake Taylor was scratched before the game. That moved left tackle Michael Tarquin to right tackle and pushed Jacob Sexton out from left guard to left tackle. But in the second quarter, Sexton left with a leg injury, tried to come back and then left for good. So the new o-line essentially included three new guys: Logan Howland at left tackle, Heath Ozaeta at left guard and Troy Everett at center, along with Febechi Nwaiwu at right guard and Tarquin at right tackle. There were still glitches — Howland immediately got Arnold smushed by Jared Ivy, and Nwaiwu didn’t finish his pull block and got Arnold hammered again, this time producing a fumble. Of course, most of the good stuff was in the first half. The second half was a disaster, with Ole Miss collecting seven of its 10 sacks.

Combine Finley’s play calling with better execution up front and the Sooners had a season-high seven offensive plays of 10 yards or more — again, in the first half alone — and had  drives of 74, 60, 68 and 92 yards, three of which produced points.

Play of the Game

Just before halftime, OU trailed 10-7 and Jackson Arnold had been sacked. It was third-and-9 with just 20 seconds on the clock. After Oklahoma called timeout, Arnold dropped back to pass, but immediately felt pressure. He stepped up in the pocket, but more pressure arrived. Arnold spun out odf the pocket as an Ole Miss defender had him by the stretchy band on his undershirt. Arnold kept rolling right, then zipped a quick throw in the corner of the end zone to Jacob Jordan as Oklahoma took a 14-10 lead into halftime.

Stock Report

WR Jacob Jordan — UP: Caught his first career touchdown to end the first half and put the Sooners up 14-10. The best receiver on the team is a walk-on and a true freshman.

QB Jackson Arnold — UP: Took a beating from the physical Ole Miss defensive front seven, but ran Joe Jon Finley’s offensive play calls with a newfound precision, took chances when they were there and showed incredible toughness running the football over and over and getting up time and time again.

RB Jovantae Barnes — UP: Against the nation’s leading run defense, Barnes was a weapon in the first half with 13 carries for 52 yards — nearly a season-high. The Sooners got away from Barnes with two ineffective drives to to start the third quarter, but on the third drive, he immediately stuck one off the left edge for 8 yards, then slammed ahead for a first down two plays later.

C Troy Everett — UP: With a new voice upstairs and a new tempo from a new play-caller and a new starting quarterback, Everett managed his second start of the season well as the new leader of the offensive line.

TE Bauer Sharp — UP, then DOWN: Caught four passes for 44 yards in the first half, including a 20-yard wheel route out of the backfield, but opened the second half with a false-start penalty and then followed that with a dropped pass on third down. In the third quarter, he caught a dump-off pass from Arnold and tried to outrun the whole Ole Miss defense, ending up with an 8-yard loss.

LB Sammy Omosigho — UP: After Kani Walker was beaten off the line for an apparent 35-yard touchdown pass, it was Omosigho who came all the way over from his linebacker spot to take Jordan Watkins down short of the end zone. Ole Miss scored a touchdown on the net play, but coaches and fans alike will appreciate Omosigho’s hustle.

Injury Report

WR Deion Burks again was a game-time decision but didn’t play. Smart decision. 

RT Jake Taylor was a late scratch and didn’t make the trip.

Running back Gavin Sawchuk was also ruled out of the game on Friday. 

Sawchuk didn’t play a snap against South Carolina after straining his quad before the game with against the Gamecocks, Venables said on Tuesday. 

Receivers Andrel Anthony, Jalil Farooq, Jayden Gibson and Nic Anderson are all out, as are defensive backs Gentry Williams and Kendel Dolby and offensive lineman Geirean Hatchett. 

Ole Miss receiver Tre Harris, who leads the nation with 987 yards, did not play.

Crazy Stat

OU’s SEC high for total offense this season was 291 yards. The Sooners had 265 going into the third quarter at Ole Miss and finished with 329 for a season-high in total yardage against an SEC opponent.