OU football vs. Arkansas State: Score, live updates from Oklahoma Sooners' season opener
The 19th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners host the Arkansas State Red Wolves on Saturday in Week 1 of the college football season. Here's everything you need to know:
How to watch Oklahoma vs. Arkansas State football
When: 11 a.m. Saturday
Where: Owen Field in Norman
TV: ESPN
Radio: 107.7 FM, 1520 AM
More: What gives OU football program optimism for 2023 and beyond? Brent Venables' consistency
Oklahoma vs. Arkansas State football live updates
FINAL: Oklahoma 73, Arkansas State 0
There wasn’t expected to be much in the way of drama Saturday when it came to the outcome of OU football's season opener against Arkansas State.
But the Sooners’ dominance in their 73-0 victory at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium was particularly eye-popping.
Read the five takeaways here.
More: OU football freshman QB Jackson Arnold makes debut in opener vs. Arkansas State
Third quarter: Jackson Arnold makes his OU football debut
Jackson Arnold’s first drive was a success.
Arnold jogged onto the field to a large ovation on OU’s first drive of the second half, coming on in relief of Dillon Gabriel, who helped the Sooners build a 45-0 halftime lead.
Arnold started off with two handoffs to Marcus Major before taking a shot downfield on a free play after Arkansas State jumped offsides, overthrowing Jalil Farooq on the play.
But Arnold followed off with a 9-yard completion to freshman Jaquaize Pettaway on third down.
Arnold finished his first drive 4 for 4 for 40 yards.
The drive ended on Tawee Walker’s 1-yard touchdown run.
On the next drive, Arnold found Jayden Gibson for a 21-yard touchdown pass to put the Sooners up 59-0.
More: OU football fans wear pink in support of Brent Venables' wife, Julie, at season opener
Halftime: Oklahoma 45, Arkansas State 0
The only — or at least the major — question at halftime of OU’s season opener against Arkansas State?
How quickly backup quarterback and five-star phenom Jackson Arnold would enter the game in the second half.
The Sooners dominated the first half, jumping to a 45-0 lead at the break, scoring touchdowns on their first five drives before settling for a field goal on their sixth.
One of the biggest keys on both sides of the ball for OU before half?
Third-down performance.
The Sooners’ offense converted each of its first seven third-down tries, only failing to convert just before Zach Schmit’s 21-yard field goal in the final minute of the first half.
The defense was equally as strong, holding the Red Wolves to 1 of 7 on third downs. Arkansas State twice missed field goals, preserving the shutout at halftime.
OU outgained the Red Wolves 437-106 in the first half.
The Sooners also controlled the time-of-possession battle, holding the ball for 19:26 in the half.
More: Justin Harrington once left OU football. He's grateful to be Sooners' starting cheetah.
End first quarter: Sooners lead 28-0
Dillon Gabriel was hot early against Arkansas State.
The redshirt senior quarterback completed his first five passes — including a 10-yard touchdown to Drake Stoops early just after he found Andrel Anthony for a 45-yard gain the play before.
By the time the first quarter ended, Gabriel was 10 of 12 for 145 yards and two touchdowns and the Sooners led 28-0.
OU outgained the Red Wolves 221-40 in the first quarter.
More: OU football fans wear pink at season opener in support of Brent Venables' wife, Julie
First quarter: Drake Stoops exits with possible injury
Drake Stoops had a big first quarter.
The redshirt senior had four catches for 56 yards and a touchdown by the time the game was just more than seven minutes old.
It was already one of Stoops’ most productive games of his career.
But following his 14-yard reception to convert a third down, Stoops stumbled to the sidelines holding his shoulder.
The injury tent on the OU sideline was quickly raised but it didn’t take long for Stoops instead to make his way to the locker room.
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First quarter: Drake Stoops, Gavin Freeman score early TDs
Brent Venables talked early in the week about the importance of the Sooners’ special teams being better in 2023.
It didn’t take long for OU to show some early returns that that could be the case.
After the Sooners’ defense held Arkansas to a three-and-out on their first series of the game, sophomore Gavin Freeman took the punt and quickly found space after shaking the initial wave of defenders.
The Red Wolves never caught up.
Freeman validated the hype that’s surrounded him in the preseason, returning the punt 82 yards for a touchdown, giving OU an early 14-0 lead after Drake Stoops scored on a 10-yard touchdown pass on the game’s first series.
Freeman’s punt return was the Sooners’ first for a score since Dede Westbrook returned a punt 71 yards for a score against Kansas in 2016.
More: How OU football's Trace Ford put his injury woes and 'mental roller coaster' behind him
He cannot be stopped 🏃♂️@TheGavinFreeman with the second Sooner TD!
📺 ESPN | #OUDNA pic.twitter.com/yhSWFzXdUU— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) September 2, 2023
Pregame: Sooners appear healthy for opener
OU looks plenty healthy going into its opener against Arkansas State on Saturday (11 a.m., ESPN).
All of the Sooners' two-deep is dressed out for the game and only two third-stringers — left tackle Jacob Sexton and receiver D.J. Graham — are not dressed out ahead of the game.
Sexton was hurt early in the Cheez-It Bowl loss to Florida State, and is expected to be fully cleared soon. Graham has yet to play in a game since moving from defense to offense in the middle of last season.
A large group of Sooners are set to make their OU debuts — from transfers like Trace Ford, Rondell Bothroyd and Dasan McCullough to freshmen like Adepoju Adebawore, Peyton Bowen and Jasiah Wagoner.
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What to know about Oklahoma vs. Arkansas State football
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2023 Oklahoma football schedule
What's the best-case and worst-case scenario for each game in 2023? Ryan Aber breaks it all down.
Sept. 2: vs. Arkansas State, 11 a.m. (ESPN)
Sept. 9: vs. SMU, 5 p.m. (ESPN+)
Sept. 16: at Tulsa, 2:30 p.m.
Sept. 23: at Cincinnati, 11 a.m.
Sept. 30: vs. Iowa State, TBA
Oct. 7: vs. Texas (in Dallas), TBA (ABC)
Oct. 21: vs. UCF, TBA
Oct. 28: at Kansas, TBA
Nov. 4: at Oklahoma State, TBA
Nov. 11: vs. West Virginia, TBA
Nov. 18: at BYU, TBA
Nov. 24 (Friday): vs. TCU, 11 a.m. (Fox)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football vs Arkansas State score, updates from Sooners-Red Wolves
