Oklahoma's Offensive Line Made History Against Mississippi for All the Wrong Reasons

The Sooners topped last week's record sack total by allowing Ole Miss to post 10 sacks on Saturday.

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold was under duress for most of Saturday's contest against Ole Miss. / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

OXFORD, MS — For the second straight week, Oklahoma offensive line set a program record. 

And it’s not history anyone in the Crimson and Cream will want to remember. 

The Sooners allowed 10 sacks in Saturday’s 26-14 loss to No. 18 Mississippi, which is the most allowed by OU since the NCAA started tracking sacks as an official statistic in 2000. Three of those sacks were allowed in the first half, and seven came after the intermission. 

“First half, really good. Second half, not so good,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said of the unit after the game. “We’re down by two scores, some of it is that. Jacob Sexton getting hurt doesn’t help. 

“… I thought, at times, we actually did, did a good job with the chip protection. You can’t do that the whole game, not for what we needed to do to win the game. Gotta be better there. That’s terrible, know that. First half was a little cleaner from that standpoint. Kept the quarterback upright. Had a really nice rhythm. Second half, not so much.”

A lot of the good that came from the offensive line was in the first half. 

The Sooners (4-4, 1-4 SEC) rushed for 125 yards against the nation’s best rushing defense, one that was allowing under 70 yards per game entering the weekend. 

Oklahoma’s ability to open up holes for running back Jovantae Barnes, who ended the game with 67 rushing yards on 16 carries, kept the Rebels’ defensive front guessing. 

Interim play caller Joe Jon Finley moved the pocket around for quarterback Jackson Arnold as well, which yielded positive results against Ole Miss (6-2, 2-2).

OU went on two of its six longest drives of the season, including a 92-yard march at the end of the half to put the visitors up 14-10. 

But the bottom fell out in the third quarter. 

On 12 plays, OU was only able to gain 23 yards. 

Ole Miss’ offense kicked into gear, and the Sooners quickly found themselves in a two-possession hole. 

From there, Mississippi picked on left tackle Logan Howland and left guard Heath Ozaeta as the two young pieces were forced into action after Jake Taylor was a late scratch from the trip to Oxford and Sexton exited the game with an injury in the section quarter. 

“Man, it’s just like playing in the NFL — you use your left tackle, it’s gonna be a lot harder,” Finley said after the loss. “But that’s my job to help him out and put him in a situation that he can be successful in, and I didn’t do a good enough job of doing that.”

Howland and Ozaeta aren’t to blame for OU’s issues in SEC play, though. 

Last week, Oklahoma’s offensive line allowed nine sacks to nine different South Carolina defenders. 

In five SEC games, OU quarterbacks have been sacked 30 times. 

A year ago, Oklahoma surrendered just 20 sacks through the entire 13-game season. 

“Obviously it sucks,” center Troy Everett said. “First half, go out there and play pretty decent, there's obviously some things to work on. Second half, we go out there, still driving the ball, still doing that. We've just got to finish, just got to be better.”

When given enough time, Arnold played well enough to keep OU in the game.

He completed 22-of-21 passes for 182 yards and two scores. Before the sack yardage was subtracted from his total, Arnold was also able to rush for 103 yards, though he only finished with 39 total rushing yards after getting dropped nine times. 

Arnold’s only turnover, a fumble, game when right guard Febechi Nwaiwu was slow pulling across the line. As a result, Arnold was obliterated at the mesh point with Barnes and the ball came out. 

There are likely no true answers for OU’s woes up front — not in 2024 anyway. 

Even when healthy, the unit has struggled to give the offense a chance to run with any kind of real efficiency. 

In the games ahead, offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh could opt to fully usher in the youth movement. This week, Venables said the coaching staff has gone back and forth on whether to try and maintain true freshman Eddy Pierre-Louis’ redshirt after appeared in the season-opener against Temple. 

Transfers Michael Tarquin, Spencer Brown and Nwaiwu aren’t going to factor into Oklahoma’s plans down the road. 

Next week should offer a reprieve as OU welcomes Maine to Norman, though nothing is a given with how Bedenbaugh’s line has played in 2024. 

While the results have been historically bad, the Sooners may have to live with the youthful mistakes from the likes of Howland and Ozaeta, as it’s the only way for the duo to learn. 

“Proud of Logan for how he fought, proud of Sexton for trying to fight through it,” Finley said. “I’m just proud of this group of guys because a lot of people wrote them off, gave them no chance whatsoever and they came to work on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and they came out swinging today. I’m extremely proud of them.”