Seth Littrell Backs 'Meticulous' Oklahoma QB Jackson Arnold to Improve After 'Inconsistent' Display

The Oklahoma quarterback completed just 19-of-32 passes in the Sooners' 16-12 win over Houston.

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold (11) back to pass during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Houston Cougars at Gaylord Family -Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

NORMAN — Nobody on Oklahoma’s offense covered themselves in glory on Saturday night. 

As is the case, quarterback Jackson Arnold will take the blunt of the criticism for the No. 15-ranked Sooners’ lackluster performance in OU’s 16-12 win over Houston. 

Arnold completed 19-of-32 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns while also throwing a pick.

The Sooners (2-0) struggled to run the ball against the Cougars (0-2), but the Oklahoma quarterback was unable to loosen the box by striking downfield. 

Arnold completed just 1-of-6 passes of more than 20 yards. His lone interception came on an inaccurate deep ball to Deion Burks, and he struggled to keep the ball inbounds at times when he tried to throw downfield. 

Much like the entirety of the offense, Arnold looked out of rhythm all night. 

“Just inconsistent,” OU head coach Brent Venables said of his quarterbacks’ performance after the win. “… Made some really nice plays, then at other times — we maybe tried to force it, you know, when you don’t have to. But I thought he ran with toughness and some critical situations, made some good plays. Again, everybody around him’s got to play well too. That’s part of it as well.”

In some ways, Arnold’s outing against Houston was a continuation of a lackluster display in Week 1. 

Oklahoma’s longest passing play of the year is still Arnold’s 47-yard connection with Jalil Farooq, which came on the second offensive snap last week against Temple. 

Arnold was only able to complete two passes longer than 20 yards against Houston as the offense was unable to make up for a lack of long drives by notching explosive plays. 

The defense notching the win was one of the few positives of the night, something Arnold didn’t shy away from after the win. 

“Just a bad night in general,” he said. “A lot of mistakes. A lot of sloppiness. A lot of misses by me. Stuff we’ve gotta get better at and improve on this next week.”

Oklahoma went three-and-out three times, which was compounded by Houston trying to hold onto the football and keep Seth Littrell’s offense on the sidelines. 

The lack of success frustrated the Sooners, which in turn led to the offense trying to force the issue instead of calmly trying to piece together drives. 

“I think our biggest focus for everyone when things do get tough is to just not press,” Arnold said. “Just focus on what you can control. Don’t do too much that your position requires and really just focus on working within our scheme.”

Part of the frustration after the game was the number of plays left on the field, between key drops and blown assignments up front. 

“We have to make the plays that are out there to be made and we're not consistently doing that, which is frustrating,” Littrell said on Saturday night. “And listen, it always starts with me. I'm never going to throw our guys under the bus. I'm the one, week in and week out. It's my job to put them in the right situation to be successful and so I'll take that. But at the same time, when there's plays to be had, you got to be able to make it.”

The Sooners have plenty of work to do before hosting Tulane next weekend as the Green Wave are fresh off pushing No. 14 Kansas State to the brink. 

Littrell has no doubts on how hard his quarterback will work to get the offense on track over the next week, but it’ll take a group effort to clean up all the miscues that occurred against Houston.

“He's a tough kid. I know he has high standards,” Littrell said. “He's very meticulous. He works extremely hard, and there's no doubt in my mind that he's very competitive and wants to do great things, as we all do. 

“So at the end of the day, it takes 11 guys, a full staff, bunch of guys, to step up and make plays in situations. So again, it's on all of us.”