There isn’t any doubt who shall be beginning at quarterback for Oklahoma in its season opener towards Temple.
The Owls’ quarterback scenario is far more up within the air.
The Sixteenth-ranked Sooners will tackle Temple on Friday night time in Norman, Oklahoma, within the season opener for each groups.
Sophomore Jackson Arnold will begin for Oklahoma, making his second profession begin after guiding the Sooners of their Alamo Bowl loss to Arizona after Dillon Gabriel transferred to Oregon.
Arnold threw for 361 yards and two touchdowns whereas finishing higher than 57% of his passes however tossed three interceptions and misplaced a fumble within the defeat.
“He is put the work in,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables mentioned Monday. “(He is had a) stage of consistency and development and maturation and labored onerous at serving to everyone else round him get higher. He has a broad set of shoulders to hold the heavy load.”
Whereas Arnold has expertise galore at extensive receiver, led by returners Nic Anderson and Jalil Farooq and Purdue switch Deion Burks, he’ll be protected by a gaggle of newcomers up entrance that features only one participant – left guard Jacob Sexton – that has began a sport for the Sooners.
USC switch Michael Tarquin at left deal with, SMU switch Branson Hickman at middle, and North Texas switch Febechi Nwaiwu at proper guard are all new to this system, whereas proper deal with Jake Taylor is predicted to make his first profession begin.
“They have been mature, they have been targeted, they look after each other,” Venables mentioned of the road.
Temple, which has received simply 10 video games over the past 4 seasons, does not determine to push the Sooners to the brink.
The Owls would be the first crew to check Oklahoma’s protection underneath first-year Sooners defensive coordinator Zac Alley, who changed Ted Roof. Alley had spent the earlier two seasons in the identical function at Jacksonville State and labored with Venables for a number of seasons at Clemson.
Temple coach Stan Drayton hasn’t named a beginning quarterback for the sport as Forrest Brock and Rutgers switch Evan Simon have been neck-and-neck for the beginning job.
Drayton mentioned Sunday that he knew who the starter was going to be however that he would wait till the final second to make the announcement.
Owls Every day reported Brock would begin towards the Sooners.
“Our guys are getting higher due to the competitors within the room,” Drayton mentioned. “There’s a variety of respect that they’ve for each other that I simply wish to hold that going.”
Brock appeared in only one sport final season, going 7 for 15 with an interception in a late October loss to SMU.
Whichever quarterback Temple goes with, it’s going to have some playmakers accessible at receiver, together with returner Dante Wright, who had 39 catches for 507 yards and 4 touchdowns final season.
“They’ve game-breaking pace,” Venables mentioned. “They’ve some glorious wideouts, too, that may take the highest off a protection.”
The sport would be the first matchup between the applications since 1942. The all-time sequence is tied 1-1.
–Subject Degree Media
