No. 15 Oklahoma’s offense struggles mightily in SEC opening loss to No. 6 Tennessee

Oklahoma has some serious questions to answer on offense.

The No. 15 Sooners were crushed 25-15 at home by No. 6 Tennessee in OU’s first SEC game. The Volunteers controlled the game from the start, as Oklahoma’s offense was so poor that quarterback Jackson Arnold was benched for true freshman Michael Hawkins.

Tennessee took a 10-3 lead with seconds left in the first quarter on a 66-yard TD pass from Nico Iamaleava to Dont’e Thornton. From that point on, the game was a formality in a game that was more lopsided than the final score indicated.

Oklahoma simply couldn’t move the ball. The Sooners had fewer than 100 yards of total offense with less than 12 minutes left in the game, as Tennessee’s defensive front dominated Oklahoma’s offensive line. There was no bright spot on offense for Oklahoma, which entered the SEC in 2024 with high expectations to be a contender.

Saturday night showed that the Sooners still have a long way to go. Arnold took over as the starter for last season’s Alamo Bowl when current Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel entered the transfer portal. After a slow first start, Arnold began the season as the clear starter and hasn’t shown much in the first three games of the season.

Arnold averaged just 5.6 yards per pass in the first three weeks against Temple, Houston and Tulane. He also had nine sacks in those three games.

Saturday night he was benched after three turnovers. Arnold threw an interception, fumbled and also had an ugly backward pass that was recovered by the Volunteers. Before leaving the game he was 7 of 16 passing for just 54 yards and was sacked multiple times.

Hawkins showed enough in his time on the field to make it a likely start in Week 5 in Auburn against a Tigers team that has quarterback issues of its own. Hawkins, a former four-star recruit, set up two of Oklahoma’s second-half touchdowns with runs to the goal line.

The schedule doesn’t get much easier after playing the Tigers, either. After Auburn, five of Oklahoma’s remaining six SEC games are against teams ranked in the top 16 of the AP Top 25. Oklahoma doesn’t have much time to figure out what’s going wrong.

Tennessee is an SEC contender

Oklahoma struggled so much that it’s hard to say Saturday night was a statement win for Tennessee. But the Vols are very, very good. They were also far from perfect.

Iamaleava fumbled twice on strip sacks and otherwise had a quiet night considering the high standards that coach Josh Heupel’s offense held him to. But he didn’t need to have a big night. Tennessee’s defense was so good — and Oklahoma’s offense so bad — that it didn’t really matter what UT’s offense did.

But this may be the most complete team of Heupel’s time at Tennessee. And it comes at a great time.

The Volunteers have just two ranked teams left on their schedule in Alabama and Georgia. Even if they lose both games — the Crimson Tide visits Knoxville on the third Saturday in October — Tennessee has a very clear path to 10-2. That’s a record that should be good enough for the College Football Playoff even if the Vols fall short of the SEC title game.