NORMAN — For Brent Venables, the decision he made midway through the first quarter was an easy one.
There was no choice but to bench Michael Hawkins.
The true freshman had a nightmare start on Saturday, turning the ball over three times in the first five and a half minutes against South Carolina. Two of those turnovers — a fumble and an interception — were returned for touchdowns. The other, which was an interception on the first play of the game, indirectly led to a 41-yard touchdown drive by South Carolina's offense.
Those turnovers put the Sooners in a 21-0 hole and they never recovered, as they fell 35-9 at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
Hawkins was replaced by Jackson Arnold, who played the remainder of the game for the Sooners. And while the decision to bench Hawkins was an easy one, the choice regarding who will start next weekend against Ole Miss is a different decision.
"We'll talk about that when we figure that out, as far as moving forward," Venables said regarding who will start next Saturday. "But again, three straight drives turnovers, that's a pretty easy decision."
Arnold had more success than Hawkins, although it didn't ultimately help the Sooners fight their way back into the game. Arnold completed 18 of 36 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown, becoming the first Sooner quarterback to throw for more than 174 yards in a game this season. The redshirt freshman did manage to complete seven passes of 15 yards or more, which the Sooners had only done six times combined in the games against Texas and Auburn.
But it appears the Sooners (4-3, 1-3 SEC), for the second time this season, will have to decide which starting quarterback to play moving forward.
"I’ll talk with BV kind of moving through this weekend," OU offensive coordinator Seth Littrell said. "But again, I think both of those guys have had some ups and downs. We’ve had some real success. We’ve had some real failures. I’ve had some failures as a coach, so they’re going to continue to work hard; I do know that. My biggest thing is making sure that I try to, again, make sure along with the other guys, get them in positions to where they’re comfortable, they can have the success, and they can play fast. Obviously, we’re going to have to do some different things in order to help them."
Jacob Jordan steps up
The preferred walk-on was one of the lone bright spots for OU's offense.
Jordan, who hadn't played this season, was inserted into the game in the second quarter and immediately made an impact — he caught three passes for 42 yards on his first drive of the year. He led the team in both receptions (6) and yards (86), and he was just two yards shy of recording the most receiving yards for an OU player this season.
"Getting second-team reps the past couple of weeks, I’ve gotten to throw at Jacob a lot," Arnold said. "He stepped up when his number was called. I’m extremely proud of him. I’ve been throwing to him since the spring. Even when I go back home in May, whatever breaks we have, he’s from that Southlake area, I’d always call him up. He was always eager to go out and throw with me, always wanting to get better. And that paid off for him today."
Jordan was huge considering Deion Burks missed his third consecutive game. Burks was labeled as questionable all week and then was determined to be a "game-time decision" 90 minutes before kickoff. He went through pregame warmups but ultimately didn't play.
OU's defensive line shows out
The Gamecocks suffocated OU's offensive line to the tune of nine sacks and 13 tackles for loss. But OU's defensive line wasn't far behind, finishing with six sacks and nine TFLs.
Gracen Halton led the way with a team-high 1.5 sacks and 1.5 tackles for loss, while Adepoju Adebawore (1 sack, 1.5 TFLs) and Ethan Downs (1 sack, 1 TFL) weren't far behind.
Danny Stutsman issues message for fans
As the Sooners' fell behind early, and never cut the lead less than 23 points, the crowd at Owen Field began to dissipate in the second half.
OU linebacker Danny Stutsman had a firm message for fans following the team's second consecutive loss.
“I know we're just going to keep fighting," Stutsman said. "At the end of the day, there's no quit in this team... At the end of the day, I love every single person on this team. I love the fans, but if they're not going to be with us, then they were not really fans to begin with."
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