Tonight, the Oklahoma Sooners defeated the Auburn Tigers 24-17 in Norman, Oklahoma. The Tigers simply could not escape errors, holes in their defense, and penalties in tonight’s contest, which led to their downfall.
The Auburn offensive line could not hold the Sooner defense, allowing 10 sacks and 14 tackles-for-loss. The 10 sacks are a program record for Oklahoma, the highest number of sacks in a single game. While there were times when quarterback Jackson Arnold had time in the pocket to make decisions, there were many more occasions where Arnold had to scramble or throw the ball away because of the intense pressure from Oklahoma’s defense.
Arnold also struggled in both passing and rushing. Arnold went 21-32 and threw for 220 yards and one touchdown. Rushing, Arnold struggled even more, rushing for -11 yards on 21 attempts. The usually strong and confident runner could hardly get anywhere without a Sooner on his heels, and couldn’t break through offensively.
Despite a rough performance from the offensive line and Arnold, there were great plays made by the receivers and running backs that kept Auburn in the game. Cam Coleman had 88 yards and a touchdown, leading the Auburn receivers. For running backs, Jeremiah Cobb led with 61 yards, and Damari Alston made his return following a shoulder injury a few weeks ago.
The Tiger defense struggled as well, allowing 271 passing yards and a rushing touchdown from John Mateer. However, they also had some shining moments. Keyron Crawford had a fumble recovery, the first of his career, and transfer Xavier Watkins had a career-high seven tackles.
Outside of the tribulations on offense, Auburn also could barely get through a drive without at least one penalty. Things like false starts, holding, and illegal blocks plagued the Tigers, who were called for a whopping 13 penalties for 85 yards. Even on drives where the Tigers made great plays or held the Sooners to a fourth down, a penalty often shifted the momentum or voided a play that would’ve turned the tide.
“We had 13 penalties," Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said. “You’re just not gonna win on the road in this league when you do that to yourself.”
In spite of a rough game this week, Freeze and the Tigers are trying to keep spirits high and attitudes positive as the upcoming schedule contains nothing but tough SEC matchups.
“We’re getting better, we can be better,” said Freeze. “And I just think this league is so dang tough, and it’s going to be a lot of teams that lose difficult games in this league, and that’s just one. We’ve got to regroup and go back on the road and play another very talented team. But I think we proved today that we can play with those talented teams.”
Auburn will have a chance at SEC redemption next week against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field on Saturday, September 27. Kickoff will be at 2:30 pm CDT, and the game will be available to watch on ESPN.
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Jackie is a senior majoring in Psychology. She started with The Plainsman in fall 2024.
You can follow her on X (Twitter) at @jackie_domingun
