BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — The opportunities were there for Oklahoma on Saturday.

But, like much of this season, the Sooners couldn't capitalize. The Sooners fell to LSU, 34-17, at Tiger Stadium.

The Sooners led 14-10 at one point in the second quarter, and Zach Schmit field goal tied the game at 17-17 with 2:13 left before halftime. But the Tigers scored the final 20 points of the game, and the Sooners failed to score in the second half to keep up.

The Sooners end the regular season with a 6-6 record and a 2-6 record in SEC play.

Here are the takeaways from the Sooners' regular-season finale:

That was the primary question coming into the game. Oklahoma's defense had been vulnerable in the secondary. LSU's offense had made a living on explosive passing plays down the field.

On Saturday night, the Tigers exposed that weakness in OU's defense.

The Tigers had no issues finding openings down the field. Their first score came on an 18-yard touchdown from Garrett Nussmeier to Kyren Lacy, who was wide open in the middle of the field. Their second touchdown came with 45 seconds left in the first half, when Nussmeier found Chris Hilton Jr. against true freshman cornerback Eli Bowen for a 40-yard score.

Nussmeier targeted Hilton Jr., and Bowen, again early in the second half on a 45-yard bomb over the top of the defense to put LSU up 31-17. The Tigers finished with seven passing plays of 15 yards or more, including two touchdowns of 40 yards or more.

But the explosive plays didn't just come in the passing game. The Sooners, who hadn't surrendered a run of 50 yards or more all season, surrendered a 50-yard gain to Caden Durham early in the second quarter, which set up a field goal. The Tigers also returned a kickoff for an 100-yard touchdown in the second quarter, marking the first kickoff return touchdown OU has allowed since 2021.

The Tigers finished with 395 yards of offense and averaged 6.3 yards per play. That's the second-most yards that OU's defense gave up this season.

The game plan was clear for the Sooners — dominate the game on the ground, attack LSU's vulnerable rushing defense and keep the ball away from LSU's explosive offense.

Outside of a few Jackson Arnold scrambles, the offense was largely ineffective.

Xavier Robinson drew the start at running back after thrashing Alabama for 107 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries. Instead, the Tigers were able to keep Robinson in check, as the true freshman finished with just 20 yards on 10 carries. That lack of effectiveness kept OU to just 19 yards and one first down in the first quarter.

Arnold, who didn't have a design run in the first quarter, got going in the second and third quarters. His first true run went for 28 yards down to the two-yard line, which set up Robinson's lone touchdown.

The Sooners finished with 167 rushing yards on 37 carries (4.5 yards per carry), indicating an efficient night. But Arnold accounted for 75 yards — mostly on scrambles — and the running game wasn't effective enough to control the tempo. The Tigers won the time of possession battle 30:33-29:27, and their explosive offense forced the Sooners to largely abandon the run.

Notably, neither Taylor Tatum or Jovantae Barnes played a snap against LSU. Sam Franklin recorded 61 rushing yards, mostly in the fourth quarter.

After a rough first quarter, the Sooners appeared to find something in the passing game. Arnold found JJ Hester for a 50-yard completion in the second quarter, which set up Robinson's touchdown two plays later to give the Sooners a 14-10 lead.

Instead, that was the only explosive play for OU's passing offense, and it accounted for nearly half of OU's total passing production.

The Sooners were without the usual suspects — Jalil Farooq, Nic Anderson, Jayden Gibson, Andrel Anthony and Deion Burks — and Brenen Thompson was available for the game but didn't play. The lack of weapons was fully on display, as Arnold completed just 14 of 21 passes passes for 110 yards.

The desperate Sooners even attempted a double pass to Bauer Sharp in the third quarter. The Tigers blew the play up immediately, and Sharp haphazardly threw the ball into traffic for an interception.

Jacob Jordan led the team with six catches for 42 yards.

When it appeared the Sooners had momentum, Halton and Thomas were the biggest reasons why.

The defensive line generated a ton of pressure on Nussmeier in the first quarter, and it eventually paid off. Halton disrupted the interior and made it to Nussmeier, who fumbled inside the LSU 10-yard line. Thomas picked it up and returned it for a nine-yard touchdown, tying the game at 7-7.

Thomas caused chaos in the first half and made it to Nussmeier for a sack in the second quarter. The hit actually forced Nussmeier out of the game for much of the second quarter.

While the Sooners couldn't sustain that momentum, Halton and Thomas were clear leaders on the defense. Halton finished with seven tackles, a tackle for loss and a sack. Thomas finished with two tackles, a TFL and a sack.

Danny Stutsman, possibly in his final game as a Sooner, led the team with 10 tackles.

Not an OUInsider.com premium member? Sign up today to get loads of inside information on Oklahoma football, softball, basketball, and recruiting, all for just a few dollars a month. Click HERE to get started!

Follow us on Twitter @OUInsider and on Instagram @ouinsiderofficial!

Subscribe on YouTube by clicking here for daily video content on all things Oklahoma!