OXFORD, MS – Oklahoma shocked everyone for two quarters.

The Sooners, undergoing a personnel change after back-to-back losses, entered halftime for the first time in conference play, but OU couldn’t beat No. 18 Mississippi.

Lane Kiffins The team dominated the third quarter and prevailed Brent Venables’ Earlier, as the Rebels celebrated a 26-14 victory at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday.

OU’s offense showed it was moving the ball for the first time in weeks, but it wasn’t enough to prevent it from falling to 4-4 on the year and 1-4 in the SEC.

The biggest question of the week was how much might actually change for Oklahoma’s offense since then Seth Littrell was released on Sunday.

Under Joe Jon Finley And Kevin Johnsit turns out that everything can change.

Things looked much closer Jeff Lebby has been running as Littrell’s business for the last two years Jackson Arnold is rolled out to try to nullify the pass rush of Ole Miss (6-2, 2-2).

Run back Jovantae Barnes ran the ball consistently against the best rushing defense in the country and allowed the Sooners to march down the field multiple times.

OU’s final drive of the first half, a 92-yard touchdown drive, was the team’s longest of the season. That came after the starting left tackle Jacob Sexton also left the game with an ankle injury.

The first drive of the game, a 74-yard drive that fell two yards short of the goal line, was the sixth-longest drive of the season for the Sooners.

Finley only needed one half of the football for both series.

Unfortunately, the Sooners lacked the element of surprise after halftime.

While Jaxson Dart After splitting up OU’s secondary (more on that in a minute), the offense gained just 23 yards in the third quarter.

That allowed the Rebels to reverse the momentum at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and build a 26-14 lead after scoring three straight points in the first half.

Dart opened the game with ease, easily carrying the Ole Miss offense down the field to score a touchdown, although the first half was anything but easy for the Rebels’ offense.

After halftime, Kiffin went up in the air again.

Ole Miss completed five passes of 20 yards or more in the third quarter alone and attacked the middle of the field at cornerback Kani Walker and finally cornerback Dec Malonewho was thrown into the fray in place of Walker.

With the Rebels playing without leading receiver Tre Harris, they had to find other ways to stress Oklahoma.

The result was a balanced passing attack in which Dart distributed the ball to many different wide receivers – none of them Venables and defensive coordinator Zac Alley seemed to have an answer to that.

It was also the second week in a row that the defense didn’t force a turnover, as the Sooners had the only advantage when JJ Hester negated a Taylor Tatum fumble by kicking the ball out himself.

Kiffin didn’t sit on the ball in the second half like South Carolina did a week ago, meaning the OU defense had its chance but couldn’t help the offense by putting Arnold in prime field position in the second half.

There will be no quarterback controversy this week.

Arnold’s return to the lineup was something to build on, even as Ole Miss took control of the offense in the second half.

Finley and Johns helped the offensive line by rolling the pocket, and Arnold was able to make quicker decisions to get the ball out, even if he had to settle for check-downs most of the afternoon.

His only loss of the ball was far from his fault as it looked like a right-back Febechi Nwaiwu was unable to pull fast enough on a running move, resulting in Arnold being wiped out at the mesh point.

The former 5-star quarterback managed to calmly move the offense down the field at the end of the first half, manage time perfectly and also score a touchdown, something the offense will hopefully build on.

There were still very few opportunities for the Oklahoma offense to hit deep, but the coaching change didn’t change the situation on the offensive line or the health of the receiving team.

When the Sooners were forced to throw the ball on every down on the final few possessions, the offensive line capitulated, preventing Arnold from making a substitution to engineer a comeback.

He was sacked six times in the last three drives alone, nine times total, as everything around Oklahoma’s quarterbacks continued to struggle.

Sunday’s film review will give the young quarterback plenty to build on, but Arnold seemed much more comfortable at the helm of the OU offense in his fifth start this year.