Jackson Arnold completed 19 of 32 passes for 174 yards, two touchdowns, and his first interception of the season. He also ran eleven times for 28 yards.

Starting with the good, he was one of the better parts of the offense for the Sooners on a night when they couldn’t move the ball. He looked sharp in the early stages of the game, tossing a touchdown pass immediately after the Houston muffed punt and leading an eight-play, 81-yard drive at the beginning of the second quarter, throwing another touchdown pass. His play in the quarterback run game was one of the few encouraging signs for the offense. Arnold also made a couple of throws he had to have late in the game when Oklahoma was trying to drain the clock.

But there were far too many misses from the sophomore, and, like it or not, being the starting quarterback at a premiere program like OU means that you will shoulder a fair share of the blame when the offense falters. Third downs were a problem again for Arnold, and the interception killed what could have been a promising drive.

Offensive coordinator Seth Littrell stressed that third downs have to improve and that the offense has to be far more consistent the rest of the year. His play calling has been extremely pass-heavy through two games, and the Sooners have to be more balanced. He had some questionable play calls, but was facing an uphill battle all night, as Oklahoma was regularly behind the chains. To be fair to both Arnold and Littrell, OU is dealing with injuries all over at wide receiver and on the offensive line. But this is Oklahoma. You should have enough talent and depth to muster more than one touchdown drive of your own at home against a struggling Houston squad.

Arnold isn’t getting the help he needs from the players around him, and was far from the worst part of the offense on Saturday. At the same time, he ultimately will have to be better if the Sooners want to have a successful season.

Running backs coach DeMarco Murray returned from his one-game suspension on Saturday night, but for the second game in a row, the run game failed to get untracked. Oklahoma ran for just 78 yards on 28 carries. Taking out Arnold’s contributions, that number drops to 50 yards on 17 carries.

Starter Gavin Sawchuk ran four times, racking up a whopping four yards. After being projected for a big season, Sawchuk has been nowhere to be found through two weeks. Jovantae Barnes played the lion’s share of snaps at running back, carrying 12 times for 40 yards. He showed the occasional burst, but he never had a strong hole to run through, leading to tough sledding.

Oklahoma’s two best runners from last week, Taylor Tatum and Sam Franklin, combined to get just one carry. It went to Tatum, who ripped a six-yard gain through the teeth of the Cougar defense. That doesn’t sound that impressive, but from my perspective in the stadium, it was one of the best runs Oklahoma had the entire evening.

It seems hasty, but it might be time to give Tatum a look at being a starter, or even a co-starter with Barnes. Those two are playing with more of a burst right now than Sawchuk. At the end of last season, Sawchuk played excellent football, making fans excited for what was to come from him this year. But he could barely find room to run against Temple and Houston, and OU has much tougher opponents coming up between Tulane and the SEC schedule. The staff can’t give up on Sawchuk, but the Sooners have to be able to run the football, and maybe Tatum and Barnes can do that with more of an opportunity.

It’s hard to be too hard on the running backs, as they were given limited opportunities by Littrell and there was not a lot of blocking happening in front of them. However, barely gaining 50 yards on the ground at that position shouldn’t happen at a program like Oklahoma.

This is a multifaceted issue. Seventeen carries isn’t enough. Finding the right ballcarrier is a must, and the guys up front have to open it up for whoever does have the ball in their hands.