Both Auburn and Oklahoma’s head football coaches were aware that they had problems at the quarterback position going into their weekly press conferences previewing the game that will happen between the two schools on Saturday.
Brent Venables, Oklahoma’s head coach, spoke unprompted on how the loss of preseason Heisman favorite Dylan Gabriel to Oregon, has affected the team thus far four games into the season.
“You can’t make a guy stay,” said Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables. “The guy is trying to find the next thing; the next chapter for him. I’m sure there was probably some disappointment that [Gabirel] wasn’t more highly thought of in the NFL. He had an amazing year. He was a fantastic quarterback. But we didn’t run anybody off or things like that.
Jackson Arnold was heralded as the next incoming quarterback star at Oklahoma and people believed he would be the perfect replacement for Gabriel when he left. That theory has not played out well for the Sooners.
Arnold looked fine in the first few games, though very much struggled when it mattered in a high-profile game against Tennessee. He threw seven-for-16 for 54 yards and turned the ball over three times in the first half.
Michael Hawkins came in and was a fresh breath of life for the Sooners in the second half of that game as he completed 11/18 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown. He’ll be the starter heading into this game and will see if he can put up the same kind of numbers and be the spark that the Oklahoma offense needs.
Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze has not had the same problem of a starting quarterback leave for another school and having to replace him. However, he is struggling with the same starter from last season in fifth-year senior Payton Thorne and how he hasn’t progressed in the offensive system Freeze has laid in place.
“We can’t turn the football over, and obviously we have to coach the quarterbacks better,” Freeze said.
Thorne as well as redshirt freshman backup Hank Brown, have already combined for eight interceptions in four games played this season. While Auburn has averaged 7.7 yards per play on offense in its game against Arkansas, the quarterbacks were not been able to read the field well and through it on point to their intended receiver.
“It’s sickening truthfully to know you’re averaging almost seven yards a rush and creating explosive plays and not scoring the points that should come with what those stats say,” said Freeze. “I’ve never been on any team that’s turned the football over and won football games. It just seemed like the other day we could not get a break... It’s one of those testing times that you’re going through.
The Tigers will look forward to sticking to their same offensive game plan in their game against Oklahoma and just look for better execution of the scheme that Freeze has in place.
“The scheme is what most everybody in the country is running, some sort of,” said Freeze. But you’ve got to have a good quarterback in whatever system you’re going to choose.”
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William Halliday is a junior journalism major from Memphis, Tennessee. He started with the Plainsman in fall 2022.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @wphalliday3
