Oklahoma coach Brent Venables was noncommittal on the immediate future of the Sooners' quarterback position after he benched first-year passer Michael Hawkins Jr. Arnold completed 18 of his 36 passes for yards and a touchdown in relief as Oklahoma suffered its largest home defeat since a defeat to Ohio State in September With his fifth appearance this season, Arnold is no longer eligible to take a redshirt year in , leaving him with two years of eligibility after this season.
After the game, Venables gave no indication of how the Sooners plan to move forward at quarterback ahead of their Week 9 trip to No. Hawkins, a freshman passer from Dallas, had not thrown an interception across 10 quarters as Oklahoma's starting quarterback before Saturday.
The tide began to turn on Hawkins when he was intercepted by South Carolina's Nick Emmanwori on the first play from scrimmage, setting up a five-play, yard touchdown drive capped by Raheim Sanders ' three-yard scoring run. The Gamecocks converted Hawkins' fumble on the next series into a yard touchdown return and the quarterback's day ended on Emmanwori's yard pick-six on the ensuing drive that put South Carolina up at the mark of the first quarter.
Arnold entered to stop the bleeding with left in the opening period and later provided one of Oklahoma's few highlights with a yard touchdown strike to Brenen Thompson after halftime. But Arnold was sacked eight times in his first action since Sept. Per ESPN Research, the defeat marked the first time Oklahoma was held under 10 points in consecutive games since Again, we've got to be good around him. After an unbeaten run through nonconference play, Oklahoma has dropped three of its first four SEC games.
In losses to Texas and South Carolina, the Sooners have been outscored over their past eight quarters. Ahead for Oklahoma are matchups with ranked SEC opponents in four of the Sooners' five final games of the regular season. Oklahoma follows its visit to Ole Miss with November games at No. A slight reprieve should come when Maine visits Norman on Nov.
