Oklahoma’s troubling trend of beating itself continued upon returning to Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Oklahoma has gotten really good at beating Oklahoma.

This time, the Sooners (5-5, 1-5 SEC) allowed Missouri backup quarterback Drew Pyne to lead an eight-play, 75-yard drive in 57 seconds to level Saturday’s matchup between the old Big 8 foes .

Then, OU quarterback Jackson Arnold lost his second fumble of the night – a fatal blow.

Zion Young picked up the ball and rolled 17 yards to give the Tigers a 30-23 lead, and Missouri (7-2, 3-2) completed the win from there.

“Heartbreaking loss. We are so sorry for our players,” OU coach said Brent Venables said after the game. “…We definitely had our moments and had a great chance there at the end. We got two minutes left and Missouri did a great job… Our guys fought with everything they had. Wasn’t good enough. We have to do a better job to help them.”

The Sooners lost the turnover battle 4-1, with Missouri outscoring the visitors 21-7 after those takeaways.

Arnold lost a couple fumbles, safety Peyton Bowen fumbled a punt and a wide receiver Deion Burkes was taken out because all four errors occurred in the Oklahoma half of the field.

“Turnover has always been a big problem,” Venables said. “They are great if you can force them on defense. They let you beat them on offense.”

Arnold actually put the ball on the turf at Faurot Field a third time, as he simply dropped the ball on the first possession, although he was able to fall on that fumble.

The setback came when the Sooners tried to march down the field and set kickers Zach Smith was a potential game-winner after the OU kicker made a 56-yard field goal to end the first half.

“It’s unfortunate. I just tried to roll it out, take it out of the bag and throw it away – I probably should have thrown it away a little earlier and just put a new piece in,” Arnold said. “…It sucks. It can happen at any time, and it happened at the worst possible time, but I just have to get better.”

Going into the decisive possession, interim game manager Joe Jon Finley said they only had one goal in mind.

“We will be aggressive. We wanted to win,” Finley said. “I felt very confident… the last three to four weeks of practice we fell right behind in practice (during the two-minute drill) and we fully expected we could do it.”

“Obviously it didn’t work. I just have to take care of the ball, across the board. Not just Jackson. But the entire football team… It starts with me, the leader of this offense. We have to take care of it.”

In his first season as an OU starter, turnovers were a problem for the second-year signal caller.

His three-turnover day against Tennessee in Week 4 landed him on the bench.

Arnold’s return to the lineup followed Michael Hawkins Jr. There were turnovers on each of the first three possessions against South Carolina, meaning there was no obvious answer on the bench to fix the problems.

For Arnold, the answer to increasing turnovers – especially fumbles – lies during the week.

“We do a turnaround at the start of practice,” he said. “It’s about running through the blasters or trying to get the ball knocked out by other teammates and stuff like that. Continue to focus and make it a point to pass the ball through traffic with both hands – little things like that can help us secure the ball better.”

Oklahoma shot itself in the foot again and again Saturday night, doing its best to extend the program’s 25-year bowl streak.

The Sooners now head into a bye week, on the other side is No. 11 Alabama, then-OU will finish the year in Baton Rouge against No. 15 LSU.

Venables extended the streak in 2022, although he couldn’t avoid a losing season after the Sooners lost to Florida State in the Cheez-It Bowl.

Now it will take even more unlikely circumstances for Oklahoma to even get six wins in Venables’ third year at the helm.

“(The goal) doesn’t change now,” Venables said. “It’s not really popular with anyone. Go right back, keep your head down, look forward, get back to work and find a way to get win #6. “Take responsibility and responsibility, everything, coaches and players alike.”