COLUMBIA, Missouri — Brent Venables has often said that the Sooners need to get out of their own way.

On Saturday, with two minutes left, the Sooners led Missouri 23-16 and simply needed to finish the job. Instead, the Tigers scored 14 unanswered points to gut punch the Sooners with a 30-23 loss. The loss leaves the Sooners with five wins on the year and empty-handed on their best chance to get that coveted sixth win for bowl eligibility.

When asked if Venables was frustrated that the Sooners again shot themselves in the foot, he offered a simple answer.

"Absolutely," Venables said. "Yeah."

The issues that led the Sooners to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory were the same ones they've dealt with all year: Turnovers, no offensive consistency, and untimely mistakes.

The Sooners again struggled with ball security, and it was the biggest issue that kept them from seizing control. Jackson Arnold lost a fumble on a 12-yard run on the offense's second possession and Peyton Bowen muffed a punt at OU's 28-yard line, which led to a Missouri field goal at the end of the first half; Deion Burks lost a fumble at the 30-yard line early in the fourth quarter, which set up a nine-play touchdown drive from Missouri that took nearly five minutes off the clock.

Still, despite those mistakes, the Sooners were still tied 23-23 and held possession with a minute left and an opportunity to win the game. But the Sooners committed their fourth and final turnover on an Arnold fumble, which Missouri returned for a 17-yard touchdown.

The Sooners nearly escaped despite their first three turnovers, but the fourth one proved to be one too many. The Sooners now have committed 15 turnovers in six conference games and hold a turnover margin of -10.

"It’s unfortunate," Arnold said. "I was just trying to roll out and get out of the pocket and throw it away. I probably should’ve thrown it away a little earlier and just got a new play in. It blows. It sucks. That can happen at any time, and it happened at the worst possible time, but I just gotta be better.”

Of course, the Sooners may not have been in that situation without their old, destructive habits returning on offense.

The offense was essentially non-existent, particularly in the passing game. Despite the return of Deion Burks and Jalil Farooq, Arnold completed just 15 of 24 passes for 74 yards, averaging 4.9 yards per completion. The Sooners had two passing plays of 15 yards or more — one came on Luke Elzinga's 43-yard pass to Bauer Sharp on a fake-punt conversion in the second quarterback, and the other came on running back Taylor Tatum's 18-yard touchdown pass to Arnold late in the fourth quarter.

The Sooners largely leaned on the running game, totaling 36 carries to 26 passing attempts. But outside of Xavier Robinson (9 carries, 56 yards) finding a rhythm late, the Sooners didn't have much success without Jovantae Barnes, finishing with 122 yards on 3.4 yards per carry. The offense finished with 257 yards and averaged 4.1 yards per carry.

"It’s very frustrating," OU offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley said. "I’ve been a part of really really good offenses that go for a bunch of points and a bunch of yards. Obviously, it’s hard when you don’t have all your weapons there all the time. But at the same time, our guys fought and scratched and clawed, and we've gotta find a way to make it work.

"It’s the University of Oklahoma, I know more than anybody else how high the standard is of offensive football here, and we gotta find a way to make it happen."

Defensively, the Sooners shut down Mizzou back-up quarterback Drew Pyne and the Tigers' offense early. The Tigers scored three points and totaled 88 yards in the first half, as Pyne completed six of 11 passes for 23 yards. But in the second half, the OU defense began to slip as the Tigers totaled 190 yards after halftime.

The biggest failure came on their final drive of the game. With the Sooners clinging to a 23-16 lead with two minutes to go, Pyne carved up OU's defense on an eight-play, 75-yard drive that lasted just 57 seconds. He capped it off with a nine-yard touchdown to former OU receiver Theo Wease to tie the game.

It was yet another missed opportunity for the Sooners in a game full of them. OU was held to two field goals on both red-zone trips in the first half, and all four turnovers came inside their 35-yard line. The Sooners converted on 5 of 15 third-down attempts, while Missouri went 11 of 19.

The Sooners appeared to have the game clinched after Billy Bowman's 43-yard fumble return with two minutes to go, which gave them a seven-point lead. Instead, it simply added to the heartbreak.

"Heartbreaking loss," Venables said. "Feel so bad for our players. They have done everything we have asked them to do. Fought their butts off to put us in position to win the game tonight... We certainly had our moments and had a great opportunity there at the end. We’re up with two minutes to go and Missouri did a great job of executing.

"We got outscored 21-7 in turnovers. Nothing impacts the game more than those. Have to do a better job of taking care of the football. Just incredibly thankful and proud of our guys. We, as a staff, have to do a better job to help them somehow, some way."

The Sooners now sit at 5-5 on the season and 1-5 in SEC play, and it's the same issues that have plagued them all season. The Sooners even got two of their playmakers back on the field, and the offense still struggled with turnovers and a lack of explosiveness.

With just two more opportunities to become bowl eligible (Alabama, at LSU), the Sooners don't have much time to fix them.