Jackson Arnold runs for 2 scores, passes for another as No. 15 Oklahoma beats Tulane 34-19

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Jackson Arnold ran for two touchdowns and threw for another as 15th-ranked Oklahoma beat Tulane 34-19 on Saturday.

Arnold passed for 169 yards and ran for 97. Freshman running back Taylor Tatum caught a touchdown pass and ran for a touchdown, and Deion Burks caught seven passes for 80 yards to help the Sooners lead.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables liked how the Sooners responded after struggling to beat Houston 16-12 in their previous game.

“You go into a week where there’s a lot of questions and concerns, if you will, and they did a great job of managing the week and focusing on what they need to do to improve, get better and take another step forward,” Venables said.

The Sooners (3-0) won their final preseason game before playing their Southeastern Conference opener next Saturday at home against Tennessee.

Oklahoma expected a tough matchup against the Green Wave. Tulane was coming off a 34-27 loss to then-17th-ranked Kansas State last week. And the Sooners remember the close win in 2021, when No. 2 Oklahoma held on to beat Tulane 40-35.

The Green Wave (1-2) challenged the Sooners again and fell just short. Darian Mensah completed just 14 of 32 passes for 166 yards, and Makhi Hughes ran for 71 yards and caught a touchdown pass.

“I’m very disappointed with the result today,” Tulane coach Jon Sumrall said. “I’m frustrated with a lot of things, but I think we could have done better. Hats off to a good opponent. They’re a quality football team. They’re very talented in a lot of areas and they’re well-coached.”

The Sooners held Tulane to 279 yards and snapped the Green Wave’s 10-game road winning streak.

Oklahoma defensive end R. Mason Thomas dominated the end of the game. In just over four minutes of play, he had three sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass deflection. His biggest play was the last one: he sacked Mensah, stripped him of the ball and recovered it to stop Tulane’s final threat with 1:40 left.

At first, it didn’t seem like Thomas’ heroics would be needed. Many fans left the field early as the Sooners took a three-touchdown lead.

Tulane stayed in the game when backup quarterback Ty Thompson connected on a 7-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Brown with 19 seconds left in the second quarter. The extra point failed and the Sooners led 21-6 at halftime.

The Green Wave held on. Hughes’ 8-yard touchdown run on fourth down was upheld on review, and Tulane cut Oklahoma’s lead to 24-13 in the third.

Tyler Grubbs’ 22-yard interception, which he returned for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, gave the Sooners a scare. The Green Wave missed the 2-point conversion and Oklahoma’s lead was cut to 24-19.

Arnold’s second TD run, from 24 yards out, gave the Sooners a 31-19 lead with 6:05 left.

“Against a team like that, it’s almost impossible to be down 21-0 and think you have a chance to come back and win,” Sumrall said. “I’m very disappointed with the way we started. That’s my fault. It didn’t set us up to play the game the right way from the beginning.”

The takeaway

Tulane: For the second straight week, the Green Wave found themselves in the fourth quarter against a top-tier Power Four opponent and couldn’t close out the game. Tulane didn’t turn over a ball for three quarters, but they did turn over two in the fourth.

Oklahoma: The defense was good once again, but the passing game has yet to produce 200 yards in a game. The Sooners made up for their passing struggles with timely offensive plays and opportunistic defense.

Nice to see you again

Former Oklahoma receiver Mario Williams finished with three receptions for 36 yards.

Williams caught 35 passes for 380 yards and four touchdowns for the Sooners in 2021. He transferred to USC and caught 69 passes for 936 yards and seven touchdowns in two seasons with the Trojans. He entered Saturday’s game with 10 receptions for 252 yards this season.

Quotable

Sumrall on how the altered training schedule due to Hurricane Francine affected preparation: “It would be really easy to sit here and say, ‘Well, we didn’t have our normal week.’ Well, who cares? Look, nobody’s making excuses. I’m not going to let that be an excuse. I mean, was our schedule abnormal? Sure. Was it really weird and weird for everybody? … Yeah. Does the scoreboard care? No.”

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