Oklahoma QB Jackson Arnold rewards Sooners’ faith, dazzles in win against Temple in first regular-season start

Oklahoma didn’t panic when Dillon Gabriel, who has nearly 15,000 passing yards in his career, hit the transfer portal after two stellar seasons with the Sooners. Instead, Oklahoma rallied around former five-star recruit Jackson Arnold and took a predictable look toward the future.

That future finally came to fruition Friday in the No. 16 Sooners’ (1-0) season-opening 51-3 win vs. Temple (0-1), when Arnold took the field for his first regular-season start and showed that his coaching staff’s faith in him might just pay off.

Oklahoma lost Gabriel, who transferred to Oregon, but gained one of the SEC’s top players.

Of course, that’s fair considering the level of competition. Temple has a total of nine wins so far in 2021. The Owls haven’t had a winning season in nearly five years, a fact that probably won’t change anytime soon.

But Arnold, who completed 17 of his 25 pass attempts for 141 yards and four touchdowns in three quarters of play, made the throws and displayed qualities that mattered no matter the opponent. He did it with a relatively small supporting cast.

Top wide receiver Nick Anderson was ruled out due to injury. Jalil Farooq left the game in the first quarter with an injury to his foot, with coach Brent Venables saying he would be out of action for six to eight weeks due to the injury. The Sooners also entered the game without offensive tackle Jake Taylor, and lost starting center Branson Hickman early on to his own injury.

Not that all of that was enough to push Arnold off the stage. On his very first pass attempt of the night, Arnold outran an oncoming defender and lofted a beautifully layered ball over two Temple defensive backs into the arms of Farooq — his best since before his injury — for a 47-yard connection.

Temple was able to apply consistent pressure all night, and also sacked Arnold four times, a symptom of Oklahoma’s injury problems and the fact that the Sooners started an entirely new offensive line. Arnold had tremendous balance for such an inexperienced player.

His first touchdown pass of the night came when he rolled to his right, backed past defenders, and lobbed the ball 14 yards to tight end Bauer Sharp. Later in the first quarter, Arnold stayed in the pocket with a defender and threw a perfect 14-yard touchdown strike to Dion Burks.

Get used to the Arnold-Burks connection. The two teamed up for three of Oklahoma’s four first-half touchdowns. It’s clear that, no matter who’s available, Oklahoma wants the ball in Burks’ hands.

In addition to his passing skills, Arnold showed the ability to make plays with his feet, both as a way of extending drives and facilitating quarterback runs. He also rushed for 47 sack-adjusted yards, which ranked second on both teams.

Most importantly, Arnold has made tremendous progress in his decision-making during the offseason. In Oklahoma’s loss to Arizona in the 2023 Alamo Bowl — Arnold’s first career start — he completed just 57.8% of his passes and had three interceptions.

Arnold didn’t drop the ball against the Owls and, at least at first glance, avoided any particularly bad throws. Furthermore, three of his eight incomplete snaps were the result of wide receiver drops.

Oklahoma held a comfortable lead for most of the game and Temple’s defensive backs were clearly outmatched, so Arnold never had to force the issue. His first real test in this regard probably won’t come until the Sooners’ matchup against an SEC secondary.

His stats weren’t very impressive, but Arnold showed he’s potentially ready for a breakout year. The Sooners will need that if they want to make a splash in the SEC.