Oklahoma's disastrous season ends with baffling decision backfiring in Armed Forces Bowl
By Scott Rogust
The Oklahoma Sooners' had far from the ideal start in the SEC. The Texas Longhorns have thrived since making the jump from the Big 12 to the SEC, while the Sooners have struggled. While there were ups this season, such as a dominant win over Alabama, but they did lose blowout games to Texas, South Carolina, and LSU.
Sitting at 6-6, Oklahoma did reach bowl eligibility. On Friday, they took on Navy in the Armed Forces Bowl. The Sooners held a 14-0 lead, but managed to blow it by allowing three touchdowns by Navy, including a 95-yard rushing touchdown to Midshipmen quarterback Blake Horvath.
But near the end of the game, Oklahoma scored on a 10-yard Michael Hawkins Jr. touchdowns pass to Jake Roberts to pull them within one point. With that, the Sooners were an extra point away from sending the game to overtime. Instead, head coach Brent Venables opted to go for the win on a two-point conversion. Well, that worked out as poorly as one could imagine.
OKLAHOMA SCORES THE LATE TD, BUT NAVY STOPS THE TWO-POINT CONVERSION TO SECURE THE WIN‼️ pic.twitter.com/pgRsDgZUrD
— ESPN (@espn) December 27, 2024
Oklahoma's season ends on disastrous two-point play in Armed Forces Bowl
Hawkins dropped back to try and find an open man in or near the end zone. instead, he was greeted by two Navy defenders, one of whom he was unable to evade, leading to the sack. A failed onside kick later, and Navy picked up their first bowl win since 2019.
With that, Oklahoma has a losing season for the second time in Venables' three-year tenure at Norman. That is not exactly ideal, considering the expectations Oklahoma has on a yearly basis, even in a tougher conference.
Entering next year, Venables will have a new roster, as plenty of players left via the transfer portal, including quarterback Jackson Arnold to Auburn and wide receiver Nic Anderson to LSU. Yet, Venables did land a new top quarterback in Washington State's John Mateer.
The 2024 season is done with, one in which the fanbase would like to put behind them and forget. instead of ending the season on a high note, the Sooners fans were left with another crushing defeat.
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