The Oklahoma Sooners are having a disappointing first season in the SEC.
After going 3-0 in their nonconference games, SEC play hasn’t been kind to the Sooners, who are 1-2 and could be 0-3 if not for a comeback victory against the lowly Auburn Tigers in September.
The latest loss saw Oklahoma look lifeless in their 34-3 shellacking at the hands of the Texas Longhorns in the 120th iteration of the Red River Rivalry. The rival Longhorns scored 34 unanswered points after Oklahoma took a 3-0 lead, and Sooners quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. struggled to get going. Hawkins finished the game 19-for-30 with 148 passing yards with no interceptions or touchdowns.
On Monday, Venables confirmed that Hawkins will remain the starter as the Sooners look to bounce back from the Texas loss when they host the South Carolina Gamecocks.
“Mike has shown a lot of really good stuff. Both in his limited time against Tennessee and he had some really good moments where he did some good stuff against Auburn. And even against Texas, he did some good things and some things where now we see if we can learn from it,” Venables said on his weekly coaches’ show.
Hawkins came into the season as the backup quarterback before replacing Jackson Arnold in the team’s loss to Tennessee and started the comeback win against Auburn.
So far this season, Arnold has gone 61-102 for 538 passing yards and seven touchdown passes to three interceptions, while Hawkins i s42-for-67 for 458 passing yards and one touchdown pass to no interceptions.
