NORMAN — It wasn't always pretty, but Oklahoma found a way to win.

The Sooners scored 21 unanswered points to open Saturday's game and led by 15 at halftime. However, Tulane managed to cut OU's lead to 24-19 early in the fourth quarter. But thanks to two defensive takeaways and a touchdown run by Jackson Arnold, the Sooners escaped Owen Field with a 34-19 win.

Here's a look at takeaways and notes from the win:

All eyes were going to be on OU's offense after its struggles the first two games.

They appeared to answer the call on the first drive.

Jackson Arnold drove the Sooners down the field on a 14-play, 69-yard drive that took nearly six yards, and the quarterback capped it off with a one-yard score. On that drive, Arnold completed 6 of 7 passes for 46 yards and added 10 yards on the ground.

The Sooners weren't done there. On their first drive of the second quarter, the Sooners drove 60 yards in seven plays. The touchdown came on a beautiful play design by Seth Littrell — with two running backs on the field, Arnold faked the handoff to Jovantae Barnes and found Taylor Tatum for a nine-yard touchdown pass. On the third drive, Tatum capped off a 67-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown.

At halftime, the Sooners had 235 total yards and had scored on three of five drives.

They appeared to pick up where they left off to start the second half, as a 13-play, 64-yard drive ended with a field goal from Keltner. But that's when things turned bad for the Sooners.

Here are the results of the next four drives:

Five plays, 13 yards, punt

1 play, -5 yards, Arnold pick-six

3 plays, 1 yard, punt

3 plays, 8 yards, punt

Total: 17 yards, zero points.

The offense went completely stale, as the running game struggled to get anything going and the Sooners had no downfield presence. Arnold's interception came after the offensive line failed to pick up a blitz, and Tulane scored on the pick to cut OU's lead to 24-19.

But after a Billy Bowman interception, Jackson Arnold was able to find room on a 24-yard scramble to essentially seal the win with 6:05 left. Keltner added a late field goal to push the margin of victory.

The good news? OU went 8 of 16 (50%) on third downs after going just five of 26 in the first two games. The bad news? They went two of eight in the second half.

It was the perfect storm of good and bad for the Sooners, who gained just 114 total yards in the second half.

Initially, it didn't appear like Tatum was a part of OU's game plan. He didn't play in the first quarter as Gavin Sawchuk and Jovantae Barnes handled the backfield.

But the second quarter belonged to Tatum.

Tatum played every snap of the third drive of the game, playing primarily in two-running back sets with Jovantae Barnes. On the seventh play of the drive, Arnold faked the handoff to Barnes and found Tatum with a nine-yard pass for an easy touchdown.

It was the Tatum show again on the next drive, as he capped off the play with a one-yard touchdown. He had an eight-yard rush two plays before to help setup the touchdown.

Tatum finished with nine carries for 27 yards and one reception for nine yards, scoring two touchdowns.

His play was noteworthy, especially since it was another middling day for the running backs. Gavin Sawchuk saw six carries for 15 yards, barely playing after the first quarter. Barnes again saw the bulk of the work, but turned his 14 carries into just 53 yards (3.8 yards per carry). The running backs totaled just 84 yards on 25 carries (3.36 yards per carry).

Tatum was also notably the running back on the field when the Sooners milked the clock late. The true freshman continues to make his case for more playing time.

The defense couldn’t have started the game much better. The Sooners forced three three-and-outs on the first four drives, allowing just one first down and 36 total yards. Tulane RB Makahi Hughes gained just seven yards on four carries during that stretch.

That allowed the Sooners to build a 21-0 lead.

However, Tulane found its footing to end the second quarter. They ended the half with an 11-play, 75-yard drive to cut the lead to 21-6 heading into halftime. Their first drive of the second half went nine plays for 75 yards and a touchdown, as Hughes caught a nine-yard touchdown from QB Darian Mensah.

But just as it looked like the Sooners were losing steam, they regained their form in the fourth quarter. After that third-quarter scoring drive, the Green Wave mustered just 27 yards and zero points over their next four drives. That included a Billy Bowman interception that setup a game-sealing touchdown run by Arnold, and a drive that ended in a turnover-on-downs thanks to two sacks from R Mason Thomas. To top it off, Thomas stripped Mensah on the Green Wave’s final drive and recovered it.

Even as the Sooners had issues, the run defense continued to be elite. Tulane gained just 107 rushing yards on 3.3 carries, with Hughes finishing with 71 yards on 19 carries (3.7 yards per carry) carries. Mensah completed just 14/32 passes for 166 yards.

The Green Wave finished with just 279 total yards, including just 116 in the second half, significantly fewer than the 491 total yards they gained against Kansas State. The Green Wave scored on just two of 12 drives.

The Sooners added five quarterback hurries, five pass breakups, six tackles for loss and two sacks (both by Mason). The Sooners added two takeaways, pushing their season total to 10.

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