Oklahoma Rallies, Then Collapses Against Arizona in Alamo Bowl

The Sooners outgained the Wildcats, but gave away six turnovers, stumbling both early and late as Arizona rallied to a double-digit victory.

SAN ANTONIO — Down two scores to open the game — and it looked a whole lot worse — Oklahoma finally found its center.

The Sooners didn’t hold it, of course, letting victory slip through their fingers like the six turnovers they gave to Arizona, over and over and over.

OU overcame a disastrous start to the Alamo Bowl on Thursday, rallied strong, then opened the third quarter with a flurry — but ultimately couldn’t finish the deal, wilting 38-24 under the weight of so many sloppy giveaways.

"You're not gonna win when the turnover margin is 6 to 1," OU coach Brent Venables said.

OU was one of the nation’s best all season at limiting turnovers, but freshman quarterback Jackson Arnold threw three interceptions and lost a fumble, and wideout Jalil Farooq lost two more fumbles as Arizona pulled away down the stretch.

It was that kind of game all night, as OU trailed 13-0 at the start, then scored 24 unanswered points, then gave up 25 straight.

Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita’s 57-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Cowing broke a tie with 5:28 to play as the Wildcats took a 31-24 lead.

As Arnold tried to rally, repeated holding penalties by the rebuilt offensive line put him behind the chains. The final nail was a sack and fumble on third-and-20, and D.J. Williams’ 19-yard touchdown run made it 38-24 with 2:56 to play.

"Arizona was a good team," said Sawchuk. "They played hard and they played physical."

Arnold threw two early interceptions but then threw two impressive touchdowns. Gavin Sawchuk rushed for 134 yards and a touchdown, and the Sooner defense  sacked Fifita five times.

But No. 12-ranked Oklahoma fell to 10-3 to end the season, while No. 14 Arizona improved to 10-3.

It was OU’s final game wearing a Big 12 Conference patch on their sleeve, as well as Arizona’s last game as a member of the Pac-12. The Sooners are off to the SEC next year, while the Wildcats are joining the Big 12 in 2024.

The Oklahoma defense was good up front and limited Arizona to just 31 rushing yards, but was porous in the secondary as Fifita threw for 354 yards and two TDs. Two Arizona receivers went over 150 yards.

The Sooners, meanwhile, finished with 562 yards total offense, including 361 passing by Arnold — the fourth most in OU bowl history — and another 201 rushing. At one point in the fourth quarter, OU had 516 yards to UA’s 271.

"He's gonna have a bright future," Venables said.

The Wildcats managed just 31 yards rushing against the Sooner defense, but that was neutralized by Oklahoma giving the football away six times.

"Those mistakes were on me. I'm gonna take the full blame for that," Arnold said. "(Coaches) put me in good position tonight."

Following OU’s disastrous start, in which Arizona picked off Arnold twice and marched down the field three times for an easy 13-0 lead (the Wildcats held a 122 to 6 advantage in total yards), Oklahoma rallied behind their dynamic rookie quarterback.

But after rallying, Arnold and the OU offense suffered more uneven throws and backbreaking turnovers down the stretch.

Arizona immediately turned that into a touchdown pass from Fifita, adding to a field goal on the opening drive and putting the Wildcats up 10-0.

They made it 13-0 in the second quarter with another field goal after picking off Arnold again, and it looked like the Sooners were on the verge of enduring a bowl blowout.

Instead, within minutes, OU had a shot to take the lead midway through the second quarter.

Arnold completed 5-of-6 passes for 59 yards on the next drive, including a 20-yard check down to Sawchuk up the right sideline. On the next play, Sawchuk zig-zagged through traffic up the middle and scored on an 18-yard touchdown run to make it 13-7. Sawchuk finished with 176 yards from scrimmage.

OU got itself in position to take the lead, but gave away the football again.

Kani Walker intercepted Fifita with a diving catch at the Arizona 34-yard line, and Arnold struck quickly with a throw over the middle to Farooq. But as Farooq got inside the 10-yard line, he was stripped of the football and the Wildcats recovered at the 8.

Sawchuk gave the Sooners another lifeline after yet another defensive stop with his 62-yard run up the left sideline that put Oklahoma back in the red zone. Arnold’s 19-yard scramble put OU back inside the 10. From there, Arnold scrambled out of trouble again and floated a corner throw to Nic Anderson, who barely kept his toes inbounds as he caught the touchdown that that put the Sooners up 14-13 with 2:53 to play before halftime.

The Wildcats were dominant in taking their 13-0 lead in the second quarter, but the OU defense stiffened twice in the red zone and forced field goals that kept the scoreboard from becoming lopsided.

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma front chased, harassed and punished Fifita, frequently pounding him and eventually making him uncomfortable. After the Wildcats’ fast start, Fifita spent the next two quarters overthrowing receivers or was hurried through his reads as the pressure was bearing down on him.

Then OU opened the third quarter about as good as they opened the first quarter bad.

On the second play of the second half, Arnold fired a 63-yard bomb to speedy Brenen Thompson, who easily got behind the secondary in man-to-man coverage and scored untouched to give Oklahoma a 21-13 lead.

Thompson apparently took a hard hit to the head on the opening play of the Sooners’ next drive, however, and stumbled and fell.

That didn’t deter Arnold, who pushed the Sooners down the field again, this time for a 22-yard Zach Schmit field goal and a 24-13 lead with 6:59 to go in the third quarter.

The 10 quick points to start the second half marked a stunning, 180-degree turnaround in the game that Arizona dominated early and Oklahoma dominated later.

"That's just the game of football sometimes," said linebacker Danny Stutsman.

But that wasn’t the game’s only flip.

The Sooners were on the verge of putting the game away as the third quarter drew to a close, but Arnold’s red zone throw to Farooq was caught and fumbled. Farooq snagged the football and spun into a big hit and the ball was popped up and plucked out of the air by UA’s Gunnar Maldonado, who ran it back 87 yards for a touchdown. Fifita’s 2-point conversion pass to Lemonious Craig made it 24-21 heading to the fourth quarter.

Arnold then threw his third interception of the night on the next play, a quick slant into coverage that was jumped by Martell Irby at the Oklahoma 12-yard line.

But the Sooner defense stiffened again as Kendel Dolby’s third-down sack of Fifita forced a field goal, tying the score at 24-24 with 12:49 to play.

In the end, the turnovers were too much for Oklahoma to overcome.

"Tonight we let Oklahoma beat Oklahoma," said safety Billy Bowman.

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