Why Resilient Oklahoma — Especially the Veterans — Hasn't Surrendered

As the Sooners prepare for a road test at Ole Miss, their junior and senior players have refused to let themselves and their teammates quit on the mission.

Oklahoma Sooners running back Jovantae Barnes (2) warms up before a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the South Carolina Gamecocks at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NORMAN — Questions about Oklahoma football's future swirled inside Memorial Stadium during Tuesday night’s media availability.

Covering a struggling athletic team is never comfortable, let alone the historically bad 2024 Sooners (4-3, 1-3) that rival the bottom of FBS football in several offensive statistics and rank 13th overall in the Southeastern Conference. Answering tough questions about their failures while staring down the barrels of a dozen or more cameras can’t be any cozier for the players than it is the people holding them. You think, When will they crack? 

In this team’s case, Tuesday was not the night.

“We’re in a situation where there’s no believers,” junior receiver Brenen Thompson said. "There’s nobody that’s got OU winning anything. So I told the rest of the guys, ‘Let’s go get it. Let’s go have fun. Let’s go play football.’”

The university announced Sunday it had parted ways with Seth Littrell, the team’s first-year offensive coordinator who replaced now-Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby, one day after the team’s epic 35-9 loss to unranked South Carolina on Saturday. By the time the Sooners defense played its sixth snap, the Gamecocks already held a 21-0 lead off three OU turnovers, two for touchdowns. The Sooners have appeared worse each week since its inaugural SEC loss to No. 7 Tennessee on Sept. 21.

Rather than exacerbating the tension, the Sooners' locker room leaders have eased it.

“You just have to make sure everybody stays together,” junior running back Jovantae Barnes said. “Me and Gavin [Sawchuck], we’ve spoke to the running backs and just wanted to let everyone know it’s a hard time, but at the same time, we have to stay together as a team. That’s the only way we’re going to get through it, and I think we’ve been doing a good job of that just the last two days.”

Voices like Barnes, Sawchuck, Deion Burks, Jake Roberts and Bauer Sharp have tempered the locker room this week amid growing frustration. Young players, Barnes said, have been vocal, too. This team hasn’t given up its fight.

“Just everybody, most of the older guys and a lot of people that have been through it, know what it looks like to win, step in and want to be heard,” Barnes said.

“I think we’ve had a really positive mindset,” senior linebacker Danny Stutsman said. The last thing we want is for guys to get down. I think the leaders on this team have done a good job of, when they do see it, correcting it, and holding this team together.”

Even injured players, specifically the five in OU’s depleted receivers room: Burks, Jalil Farooq, Jayden Gibson, Nic Anderson and Andrel Anthony, have reportedly offered support.

“They’ve been there, especially when we come to practice, they’ve always got the sideline jumping, they’ve always got the sideline jumping on the game” Thompson said. “Me, being the leader in the room right now, it’s encouraging for me because I have someone I can go to, you know, as they’re obviously leaders from the past and still leaders on this team.”

Especially during an unprecedented era of changing loyalty at all levels of college football, the average team experiencing OU’s suffering would split into factions. Media availabilities would be a headache for everybody involved. Many players would prioritize searching for their transfer destination. Some would sit the remainder of the season altogether if it meant preserving their redshirt. Sophomore quarterback Jackson Arnold had that opportunity Saturday. When Littrell put him in the game in place of a struggling Michael Hawkins Jr., Arnold didn’t hesitate. In the third quarter, he threw the first OU touchdown in three weeks, a 54-yard bomb to Thompson.

“I think for everybody, you go through something,” junior offensive lineman Troy Everett said. “It’s about how you respond. [Arnold] responded like a grown man. He came back, learned from it and got better. He’s the same ol’ Jackson. Everybody is just grateful for their opportunity. He’s no different. That’s how he is.”

The stress around and within OU football will only swell. With Littrell gone, tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley and quarterbacks coach Kevin Johns will man the offense. Managing OU’s recruiting future while a December offensive coordinator search looms — not to mention, five regular season games and four against ranked opponents between now and then — will have head coach Brent Venables stretched thin. Challenges persist until addressed in the merciless SEC.

“There's a lot that you obviously can't do right now,” Venables said earlier Tuesday. “You focus on getting better right now. We need to get better. You can always plan ahead without getting distracted. My main focus right now is getting us prepared for this week and putting together a good game plan in all three phases and getting our players a chance to be successful.”

The Sooners will play at No. 18 Ole Miss (5-2, 1-2) on Saturday. The Rebels score 41.4 points per game, eighth in the nation. Quarterback Jaxson Dart leads all SEC quarterbacks with 2,384 passing yards on a 70 percent clip and all FBS players with 11.1 yards per attempt. He’s thrown 14 touchdowns to three interceptions this season and carried the ball 59 times for three touchdowns.

“Obviously he’s [Dart] really good. People don’t kind of respect the way he can run. Obviously he’s very talented at that,” Stutsman said. “They do a lot of QB run game. I think a lot of people sleep on his ability to get out of the pocket and make plays with his legs.”

In Oxford, Arnold will make his first start since Tennessee — and without an offensive coordinator. Venables was hesitant to declare whether Hawkins would see the field again.

“Jackson stepped in and played pretty well, took care of the football,” Venables said. “Put one on the ground, recovered it. Made a lot of really good decisions in the game. Took command right from the get go. And again, several drops that would have made the day even better for him individually, so that’s what went into it.”

Kickoff for Ole Miss is scheduled for 11 a.m.