COLUMBIA — Half an hour before kickoff, Tony Romo strolled the sidelines of Faurot Field taking pictures with fans and engaging with rowdy Missouri students.
The former 13-year Dallas Cowboys quarterback turned CBS commentator took a detour from where he’ll call the Cowboys' game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday to witness Oklahoma (5-5, 1-5 SEC) crumble in the final minutes and suffer a 30-23 loss to Missouri (7-2, 3-2 SEC) on Saturday.
Little did the four-time pro bowler know the best quarterback play he’d witness on Saturday came from Oklahoma’s punter, Luke Elzinga, who completed a 43-yard pass to redshirt junior tight end Bauer Sharp on a fake punt in the first half.
Gotcha 😏@ElzingaLuke » @BauerSharp15 pic.twitter.com/5TAoYBrok4
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) November 10, 2024
“We’ve been cooking that up for a little while,” Elzinga said of the fake punt. “I was just happy it got called when it got called. I was just like, ‘OK, it’s about time.’ I like doing fakes. I like throwing it. I’m just happy it worked out.”
“We thought it would be there,” head coach Brent Venables added. “We got the exact look that we thought (we’d get). It was executed exactly how we thought it would be.”
The completion was enough for Elzinga to take a game-high 43 passing yards into halftime, tying sophomore quarterback Jackson Arnold and topping Missouri quarterback Drew Pyne’s 23 pass yards. Sharp caught four more passes for 0 receiving yards and took one carry for a loss of seven yards.
On one hand, Elzinga’s completion was a bright spot for OU’s special teams and showcased the improvement the unit has made from last season.
Oklahoma ranked 107th nationally in special teams efficiency in 2023. The Sooners made just 71.4% of their field goals, ranked 54th in punt average, 96th in punt return average and 50th in kick return average. They also lost four fumbles.
OU has improved in nearly every special teams metric this season. It ranks 24th nationally in special teams efficiency, 17th in average punt distance and has knocked 84.6% of its field goals through the uprights.
“A year ago, we had four fumbles and missed several kicks, so that affects everything. You’re not going to be very good (when you do that),” Venables said of OU’s special teams. “We just got better. … Our players have matured into the old mindset of winning the hidden yardage and being aggressive with what we're doing with special teams.”
Much of the special teams revival has come from redshirt senior kicker Zach Schmit, who went 3 for 3 against Missouri, including a career-long 56-yard field goal to extend OU’s lead to 9-3 before halftime.
Big Boot 👟 Career long 56-yarder » @zach_schmit39 pic.twitter.com/Ck0MKAFAJn
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) November 10, 2024
“I know that I have the leg for that, so it wasn't that I was going to try to overswing or anything,” Schmit said of his 56-yarder. “My mentality is to swing for the fences because the past couple years, I've been trying to place the ball almost in the uprights, and that didn't really work out for me. I wasn't trusting my technique and my preparation."
“So for that 56, it was just trusting in myself, trusting my technique and just knowing that I had the leg for it and just swing normally, and don't focus on any little basic details. Just trust myself.”
Schmit’s change in demeanor came after he went 15 for 21 on field goals last season. All five of his misses came in one-score games, including a crucial miss in OU’s 27-24 loss to Oklahoma State.
His struggles led to then-redshirt senior Tyler Keltner taking over as place kicker at the beginning of the season. After Keltner went 7 for 9 on field goals as the starter, Schmit replaced him and hasn’t looked back.
“I stopped focusing on the outside perspective and started focusing on myself and what my identity is,” said Schmit, who improved to 7 for 7 on field goals this season on Saturday. “I was always so worried about what everyone else thought. And I finally, this season, was able to say, ‘You know what, I have the ability, I have the confidence’ … and wherever that takes me, it takes me."
“I don't worry about the outside world. I don't worry about any of that, and that's helped me play free and loose.”
The only special teams setback was when sophomore safety Peyton Bowen muffed a punt, leading to Missouri’s only points of the half — a 25-yard field goal.
Oklahoma’s two longest passes of the night came from Elzinga and freshman running back Taylor Tatum, who threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Arnold to tie the game at 16 with 3:18 left in the fourth.
There were three more touchdowns scored in the final three minutes, two of which came on defense.
Sophomore quarterback Jackson Arnold during game against Missouri on Nov. 9 at Faurot Field.
On the other hand, Elzinga and Tatum being responsible for the two most crucial throws of the night shows the gaping holes in Oklahoma’s offense. Arnold completed 15 of 24 passes for 74 yards and averaged less than five yards per completion.
In the last 10 years, OU’s leading passer has only totaled less than Arnold’s 74 pass yards twice — Davis Beville’s 38 yards in 2022 against Texas and Cody Thomas’ 39 yards against Kansas in 2014, the game where Samaje Perine set the single-game rushing yards record.
Arnold’s lack of passing production comes during a week where redshirt junior Deion Burks and senior Jalil Farooq returned after missing six and nine games, respectively, due to injuries. Farooq and Burks caught a combined seven passes for 55 yards.
“Obviously, he wasn’t as confident as he was the past few weeks,” offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley said of Arnold. “And that starts with me. I’ve gotta put him in a position to be confident, play confident … we’ve got to continue to find ways to make sure he’s comfortable.”
But Oklahoma’s primary struggles boiled down to their six fumbles, four of which they lost.
The first time, Arnold rolled out to his left on third down on the game’s opening possession and seemingly had room to come close to gaining a first down, but fumbled despite not being touched and had to retreat to jump on the loose ball.
Arnold followed that up with another fumble on the next possession. Burks also fumbled in the fourth quarter, and Arnold lost a second fumble while trying to lead the Sooners on a potential game-winning drive with less than a minute left.
“Turnovers have always been a major issue,” Venables said of the fumbles. “They’re big if you force them on defense, and they get you beat on offense. We’ve got to do a better job there.”
The sophomore has fumbled eight times and thrown three interceptions in eight games. Freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. also struggled with turnovers in his three starts.
It begs the question of whether seventh-year third-string quarterback Casey Thompson’s experience would help limit the turnovers at the helm of the offense.
“I don’t know,” Venables said of whether he’ll look at starting Thompson. “We’re not there right now.”
Arnold said the Sooners go through a “turnover circuit” at the beginning of every practice, where they go through drills that emphasize maintaining control of the ball.
Despite that, Arnold and the Sooners fumbled away their hopes of a win on Saturday and potentially bowl eligibility.
“You’ve just got to get better,” Venables said of his quarterback’s turnovers. “It's unfortunate. You never like it. It affects everything that you do, but you just got to get better at taking care of the ball.
“Just the basics. It's not anything that's earth-shattering. It's just that we’ve got to get better at it.”
