What happened
News Title/Type: Sports Analysis and Commentary (Auburn Sports Focus)
Report Provider/Author: 247Sports / Phillip Marshall
Date/Time Period Covered: Primarily focused on upcoming events and recent past performance, with a specific mention of Tuesday's golf tournament results and anticipation for Saturday's football game. The article was published on September 17, 2025.
Grab a hot cup of coffee and let's talk Auburn sports and moreArnold in the spotlight in return to Oklahoma much as he would like for it not to be, Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold's return to Oklahoma on Saturday is a storyline that won't go away. Quarterbacks are always in the spotlight. That spotlight will be even brighter er when the No.
22 Tigers play the No. 11 Sooners on national TV.. Arnold went into last season as the starter. Oklahoma lost its top five receivers to injuries. The offensive line struggled in protection and in the running game. Arnold was benched for two games and then returned as the starter for the remainder of the season.
Todd Arnold remembered the day his son was benched in the second half against Tennessee."I went over that Sunday morning just to talk to him," Todd Arnold said. "I sat there and talked to him for an hour or so. It had just happened, and he's wondering what was going to happen."When you see your son have all hopes dashed, it's tough.
What do you say? Lean into your faith. Get back and start grinding. His representative has dealt with multiple NFL guys. He was able to help direct him. He told him get back on the film, be the first one to show up, act like you never lost your position and be a leader of this team. And he did. How you react is what people are going to remember."
Reid Heim was the head coach at Guyer High School in Denton, Texas, where Arnold became one of the top five prospects in the country."There is nobody I had rather have in my corner than that guy," Heim said. "We've had some really special quarterbacks. I got the job in 2022 and Jackson was a senior.
I cannot say enough good things about him. He's as good as it gets."I hope and pray that he gets to show everybody the level of player he is. I think he got a little bit of a raw deal at OU."The danger of assumptions in college football After the networks and the national columnists beat the drums for a few teams all summer, it is assumed those teams will be great.
Making assumptions can be dangerous. What happened in one season doesn't automatically carry over to the next. Consider: --South Carolina got lots of praise for beating Virginia Tech in its season opener. Then, it turned out that Virginia Tech was so bad that its coach was fired after three games. South Carolina was blown out at home by Vanderbilt.
--Texas went into the season ranked No. 1 mainly based on the out-of-control expectations for quarterback Arch Manning, who had started two games in his career against overmatched teams. Manning struggled against Ohio State, had a successful game against San Jose State and then stunk it up against UTEP.
--Florida was back. Billy Napier had survived. Quarterback DJ Lagway was going to be a star. Then Florida lost to South Florida. And Lagway threw five picks in a loss at LSU. Florida is 1-2 and likely to be 1-3 after Saturday's trip to Miami. --Clemson was ranked No. 4 in the nation. It is also 1-2.
--Notre Dame was considered a shoo-in for the College Football Playoff. It is 1-2. Nobody – not even one team – has done enough yet to be labeled a sure thing. That really is why they play the games.Close games make the difference In the vast majority of seasons, championships are decided by who wins close games, not by blowouts and not by lackluster performances against teams that have no chance to win.
That is why Notre Dame should not be ranked with an 0-2 record. Sure, the Irish lost close games to Miami and Texas A&M. They could have won, but they didn't. Maybe – probably – the Irish will win enough to deserve being ranked. But as of today, they have played two and lost two.College football TV and a billionaire Texas Tech billionaire booster Cody Campbell is loudly pushing the idea that college football television contracts should be negotiated by the FBS as one package.
Yes, he's wealthy, but that doesn't mean he is right. The SEC and the Big Ten are a very long way from agreeing to anything like that. Why would they? The networks wouldn't be fired up about that either. It sounds good to say that those two leagues and their commissioners should put the good of the game first, but that is not their jobs.
They were hired to do what is best for their conferences.LINKS OF INTEREST AND MORE Auburn's Gilbert is medalist in fall schedule opener Auburn junior Josiah Gilbert was the medalist as No, 2 Auburn finished tied for second plays in the Invitational at the Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tennessee, on Tuesday.
"Means a lot to start off the year strong," Gilbert said. "I feel as though we set a great foundation as a team and learned things about ourselves early on, which is great. I'm thankful to see some progress in my own game, and ready and excited to keep on building when we head to Colonial." Gilbert finished 6-under par to win the second individual championship of his career.
As a team, Auburn shot 5-under 859 to tie for second with No. 12 Virginia. No. 5 Ole Miss won the team title at 10-under 854. Without star Jackson Koivun, the Tigers picked up head-to-head wins against No. 8 Oklahoma (E), No. 12 Vanderbilt (-1), No. 17 Tennessee (+18), No. 19 Pepperdine (+4), as well as Clemson (+18) and Duke (+21), both of whom are receiving votes in the latest coaches' poll.
"Very proud of the fight and determination our guys showed these past two days," Auburn coach Nick Clinard said. "To finish second in a field that includes nine teams ranked in the top 30, without your top-ranked player, is applaudable. They fought hard and climbed up the leaderboard each day. I'm very excited for the potential of this group as our season progresses."
Auburn faces first opportunity to make a resounding statement Saturday's game at No. 11 Oklahoma will be No, 22 Auburn's first opportunity to make a statement heard around college football, but it won't be its last. A victory in Norman would certainly send the Tigers rocketing toward the Top 10 and into the College Football Playoff conversation.
The Tigers will have plenty of other opportunities – at Texas A&M, at home against Georgia and Alabama and, yes, at Vanderbilt. No single loss will be devastating. Even a second loss might not be. But with every loss, the margin of error becomes smaller. #PMARSHONAU Oklahoma offense a tough test for Tigers Bringing in new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle from Washington State along with Cougar quarterback John Mateer was the first step in rebuilding the Oklahoma offense for the 2025 season.
Adding key transfers at the skill positions and along the offensive line was the first step along with staying healthy. That has added up to a strong start on that side of the ball as Auburn prepares to face the Sooners on Saturday in the SEC opener for both teams. Averaging 33.7 points per game in wins over Illinois State, Michigan and Temple, Oklahoma is led by Mateer and the passing game.
They are averaging 316.3 yards per game through the air (19th nationally) but are just 78th in the country running the football (156.4 yards per game). They have eight rushing touchdowns in three games, but it's the passing game and Mateer that leads the way. OPPONENT PREVIEW Auburn braces for QB challenge A ton of attention for Auburn and Oklahoma's SEC-opening matchup centers around the quarterback position this week.
But this isn't the first time Jackson Arnold and John Mateer have faced off. Separated by about a half-hour in the Dallas suburbs, Arnold and Guyton High School defeated Mateer and Little Elm High School twice — 45-31 when Arnold was a junior, and 49-21 when he was a senior. JOHN MATEER Singleton healthy and ready for SEC play Catching more than 100 passes the last two seasons at Georgia Tech, wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr.
came to Auburn with the expectations to add another explosive target for quarterback Jackson Arnold. Banged up to start his career on the Plains, Singleton has still managed to catch 13 passes for 149 yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Tigers but is someone that Auburn has high expectations for the remainder of this season.
"Very solid contributor," Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said. "He is what we knew he was. He's good in the pass game, good in the run game. Very high football IQ. He runs great routes. We're thrilled we have him. I think he's produced very nicely. Going to need him to play big in these next few games." The first order of business is to get healthy.
After dealing with a bruised thigh to open the season, he suffered a mild hip pointer in the second half of the win over South Alabama on Saturday. Now he's ready to roll as he looks forward to his first SEC game this weekend. "I'm good," Singleton said following Tuesday's practice. "I feel great. It was good just to get back out here.
Taking it day by day with everything and excited this week." ERIC SINGLETON Auburn practice notes No. 22 Auburn opens SEC play this weekend, heading to Norman for the first time in program history. The Tigers (3-0) face off against No. 11 Oklahoma (3-0) in quarterback Jackson Arnold's return to his former school.
Auburn has not beaten a top-15 team on the road since 2014. The media were permitted to watch about 30 minutes of practice. Auburn Undercover subscribers can check out our notebook from Tuesday out on the practice field, which primarily features observations on Auburn's long list of injured players.
OKLAHOMA WEEK Venable, players talk about facing ex-teammate There are sure to be plenty of hugs and greetings pregame for Jackson Arnold on Saturday afternoon — but shortly after, he'll be looking to notch his first SEC win as Auburn's quarterback. The Oklahoma transfer returns to Norman, where he started nine games, as No.
22 Auburn gets set to begin conference competition against the No. 11 Sooners. Here's what Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables said at his Tuesday morning press conference about facing Arnold and the Tigers, along with comments this week from some of the Sooners' players. RETURN TO NORMAN Podcast: Could Auburn flip Toodle back?
Welcome back to another edition of the Auburn Undercover Podcast. Christian Clemente and Jason Caldwell review the Tigers' recruiting weekend following the homecoming win over South Alabama. The duo looks at 2026 offensive line commit Wilson Zierer's visit, 2026 linebacker target Shadarius Toodle's trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium as well as several players from the class of 2027.
RECRUITING ROUNDUP
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News Title/Type: Sports Analysis and Commentary (Auburn Sports Focus)
Report Provider/Author: 247Sports / Phillip Marshall
Deeper analysis
Full source content
Grab a hot cup of coffee and let's talk Auburn sports and moreArnold in the spotlight in return to Oklahoma much as he would like for it not to be, Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold's return to Oklahoma on Saturday is a storyline that won't go away. Quarterbacks are always in the spotlight. That spotlight will be even brighter er when the No.
22 Tigers play the No. 11 Sooners on national TV.. Arnold went into last season as the starter. Oklahoma lost its top five receivers to injuries. The offensive line struggled in protection and in the running game. Arnold was benched for two games and then returned as the starter for the remainder of the season.
Todd Arnold remembered the day his son was benched in the second half against Tennessee."I went over that Sunday morning just to talk to him," Todd Arnold said. "I sat there and talked to him for an hour or so. It had just happened, and he's wondering what was going to happen."When you see your son have all hopes dashed, it's tough.
What do you say? Lean into your faith. Get back and start grinding. His representative has dealt with multiple NFL guys. He was able to help direct him. He told him get back on the film, be the first one to show up, act like you never lost your position and be a leader of this team. And he did. How you react is what people are going to remember."
Reid Heim was the head coach at Guyer High School in Denton, Texas, where Arnold became one of the top five prospects in the country."There is nobody I had rather have in my corner than that guy," Heim said. "We've had some really special quarterbacks. I got the job in 2022 and Jackson was a senior.
I cannot say enough good things about him. He's as good as it gets."I hope and pray that he gets to show everybody the level of player he is. I think he got a little bit of a raw deal at OU."The danger of assumptions in college football After the networks and the national columnists beat the drums for a few teams all summer, it is assumed those teams will be great.
Making assumptions can be dangerous. What happened in one season doesn't automatically carry over to the next. Consider: --South Carolina got lots of praise for beating Virginia Tech in its season opener. Then, it turned out that Virginia Tech was so bad that its coach was fired after three games. South Carolina was blown out at home by Vanderbilt.
--Texas went into the season ranked No. 1 mainly based on the out-of-control expectations for quarterback Arch Manning, who had started two games in his career against overmatched teams. Manning struggled against Ohio State, had a successful game against San Jose State and then stunk it up against UTEP.
--Florida was back. Billy Napier had survived. Quarterback DJ Lagway was going to be a star. Then Florida lost to South Florida. And Lagway threw five picks in a loss at LSU. Florida is 1-2 and likely to be 1-3 after Saturday's trip to Miami. --Clemson was ranked No. 4 in the nation. It is also 1-2.
--Notre Dame was considered a shoo-in for the College Football Playoff. It is 1-2. Nobody – not even one team – has done enough yet to be labeled a sure thing. That really is why they play the games.Close games make the difference In the vast majority of seasons, championships are decided by who wins close games, not by blowouts and not by lackluster performances against teams that have no chance to win.
That is why Notre Dame should not be ranked with an 0-2 record. Sure, the Irish lost close games to Miami and Texas A&M. They could have won, but they didn't. Maybe – probably – the Irish will win enough to deserve being ranked. But as of today, they have played two and lost two.College football TV and a billionaire Texas Tech billionaire booster Cody Campbell is loudly pushing the idea that college football television contracts should be negotiated by the FBS as one package.
Yes, he's wealthy, but that doesn't mean he is right. The SEC and the Big Ten are a very long way from agreeing to anything like that. Why would they? The networks wouldn't be fired up about that either. It sounds good to say that those two leagues and their commissioners should put the good of the game first, but that is not their jobs.
They were hired to do what is best for their conferences.LINKS OF INTEREST AND MORE Auburn's Gilbert is medalist in fall schedule opener Auburn junior Josiah Gilbert was the medalist as No, 2 Auburn finished tied for second plays in the Invitational at the Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tennessee, on Tuesday.
"Means a lot to start off the year strong," Gilbert said. "I feel as though we set a great foundation as a team and learned things about ourselves early on, which is great. I'm thankful to see some progress in my own game, and ready and excited to keep on building when we head to Colonial." Gilbert finished 6-under par to win the second individual championship of his career.
As a team, Auburn shot 5-under 859 to tie for second with No. 12 Virginia. No. 5 Ole Miss won the team title at 10-under 854. Without star Jackson Koivun, the Tigers picked up head-to-head wins against No. 8 Oklahoma (E), No. 12 Vanderbilt (-1), No. 17 Tennessee (+18), No. 19 Pepperdine (+4), as well as Clemson (+18) and Duke (+21), both of whom are receiving votes in the latest coaches' poll.
"Very proud of the fight and determination our guys showed these past two days," Auburn coach Nick Clinard said. "To finish second in a field that includes nine teams ranked in the top 30, without your top-ranked player, is applaudable. They fought hard and climbed up the leaderboard each day. I'm very excited for the potential of this group as our season progresses."
Auburn faces first opportunity to make a resounding statement Saturday's game at No. 11 Oklahoma will be No, 22 Auburn's first opportunity to make a statement heard around college football, but it won't be its last. A victory in Norman would certainly send the Tigers rocketing toward the Top 10 and into the College Football Playoff conversation.
The Tigers will have plenty of other opportunities – at Texas A&M, at home against Georgia and Alabama and, yes, at Vanderbilt. No single loss will be devastating. Even a second loss might not be. But with every loss, the margin of error becomes smaller. #PMARSHONAU Oklahoma offense a tough test for Tigers Bringing in new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle from Washington State along with Cougar quarterback John Mateer was the first step in rebuilding the Oklahoma offense for the 2025 season.
Adding key transfers at the skill positions and along the offensive line was the first step along with staying healthy. That has added up to a strong start on that side of the ball as Auburn prepares to face the Sooners on Saturday in the SEC opener for both teams. Averaging 33.7 points per game in wins over Illinois State, Michigan and Temple, Oklahoma is led by Mateer and the passing game.
They are averaging 316.3 yards per game through the air (19th nationally) but are just 78th in the country running the football (156.4 yards per game). They have eight rushing touchdowns in three games, but it's the passing game and Mateer that leads the way. OPPONENT PREVIEW Auburn braces for QB challenge A ton of attention for Auburn and Oklahoma's SEC-opening matchup centers around the quarterback position this week.
But this isn't the first time Jackson Arnold and John Mateer have faced off. Separated by about a half-hour in the Dallas suburbs, Arnold and Guyton High School defeated Mateer and Little Elm High School twice — 45-31 when Arnold was a junior, and 49-21 when he was a senior. JOHN MATEER Singleton healthy and ready for SEC play Catching more than 100 passes the last two seasons at Georgia Tech, wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr.
came to Auburn with the expectations to add another explosive target for quarterback Jackson Arnold. Banged up to start his career on the Plains, Singleton has still managed to catch 13 passes for 149 yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Tigers but is someone that Auburn has high expectations for the remainder of this season.
"Very solid contributor," Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said. "He is what we knew he was. He's good in the pass game, good in the run game. Very high football IQ. He runs great routes. We're thrilled we have him. I think he's produced very nicely. Going to need him to play big in these next few games." The first order of business is to get healthy.
After dealing with a bruised thigh to open the season, he suffered a mild hip pointer in the second half of the win over South Alabama on Saturday. Now he's ready to roll as he looks forward to his first SEC game this weekend. "I'm good," Singleton said following Tuesday's practice. "I feel great. It was good just to get back out here.
Taking it day by day with everything and excited this week." ERIC SINGLETON Auburn practice notes No. 22 Auburn opens SEC play this weekend, heading to Norman for the first time in program history. The Tigers (3-0) face off against No. 11 Oklahoma (3-0) in quarterback Jackson Arnold's return to his former school.
Auburn has not beaten a top-15 team on the road since 2014. The media were permitted to watch about 30 minutes of practice. Auburn Undercover subscribers can check out our notebook from Tuesday out on the practice field, which primarily features observations on Auburn's long list of injured players.
OKLAHOMA WEEK Venable, players talk about facing ex-teammate There are sure to be plenty of hugs and greetings pregame for Jackson Arnold on Saturday afternoon — but shortly after, he'll be looking to notch his first SEC win as Auburn's quarterback. The Oklahoma transfer returns to Norman, where he started nine games, as No.
22 Auburn gets set to begin conference competition against the No. 11 Sooners. Here's what Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables said at his Tuesday morning press conference about facing Arnold and the Tigers, along with comments this week from some of the Sooners' players. RETURN TO NORMAN Podcast: Could Auburn flip Toodle back?
Welcome back to another edition of the Auburn Undercover Podcast. Christian Clemente and Jason Caldwell review the Tigers' recruiting weekend following the homecoming win over South Alabama. The duo looks at 2026 offensive line commit Wilson Zierer's visit, 2026 linebacker target Shadarius Toodle's trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium as well as several players from the class of 2027.
RECRUITING ROUNDUP
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