3 losers and 2 winners from Oklahoma's embarrassing showing vs. New Mexico

The Oklahoma Sooners didn't lose in Week 3, but it sure does feel like it.

The Sooners edged out New Mexico from the Mountain West 14-6 on Saturday night in Norman as the offense was absolutely embarrassing. Boos echoed throughout Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, and afterward, it was obvious during his postgame press conference that head coach Brent Venables is also tired of Ben Arbuckle's offense not holding up their end of the bargain.

OU improved to 2-1, but the next morning, it was easier to find losers from the game than winners.

Losers: OU fans 

There’s a portion of Sooner Nation that will be frustrated with fans booing their own team at Memorial Stadium and even chanting, “Fire Arbuckle,” but that’s not why OU fans are losers from Saturday night. It’s because we even got to that point. 

We were fed hollow promises of change all offseason. There was belief the Sooners were true title contenders, not because they made the CFP last year, but because they were supposed to be even better with a functional offense. 

There was hope, and now only three weeks in, it’s all lost. 

We all thought there was a clear standard set for Oklahoma football, but 26 years since winning a national title, it’s starting to feel like only the fan base has those expectations for this program. It got to the point where the fans felt the need to hold the program accountable, not the head coach or even the athletic director, who just recently rewarded mediocrity with another extension. 

This is college football fandom. It’s crazy to say out loud, but the team wearing crimson and cream dictates our mood at least on Saturdays, if not an entire week. 

Ask any member of Sooner Nation, if that’s the product on the field, we’ll continue to feel defeated. 

Winner: David Stone 

Unfortunately, how brutal the offense is has overshadowed how spectacular the defense still is. All the talk will be negative about Arbuckle, John Mateer and the offensive line, so it’s a shame guys like David Stone won’t get the flowers they deserve. 

Stone is a former five-star recruit who has been called out to reach his potential this year as a junior, and he did on Saturday night. He tied for the team lead with eight tackles from the defensive tackle spot. He also led the unit with two tackles for loss, plus had half a sack. 

Stone looked the part of a first-round draft pick on Saturday night. 

Loser: Ben Arbuckle 

A lot has been written and said already about Arbuckle, but even so, it still felt like this list needed his name on it. 

For every reason OU fans woke up feeling defeated, they all seem to come back to Arbuckle. 

Through three games, the Sooners are 114th in yards per game, 99th in points per game, 127th in turnover margin and 96th in yards per play. The offense isn’t just not meeting Oklahoma’s standards, but is just flat-out bad. 

The man in charge of the reason the Sooners won’t be able to win much is the biggest loser right now. 

Winner: Jason Eck 

A matchup like OU put an unusual spotlight on someone like New Mexico head coach Jason Eck. America fell in love with his personality, as he even got an ESPN feature, and he proved to college football Saturday night that he should be a Power 4 coach soon. 

Eck’s team didn’t win, but it did better than anyone expected, and it did so with its star player out for the year. After already going 9-3 last season, Eck will get a lot of money thrown his way from a bigger program at the end of 2026. 

Heck, depending on how this season goes for the Sooners, maybe Oklahoma head coach Jason Eck? 

Loser: OU’s running backs 

This is the second week in a row that OU’s running backs are labeled losers, and to no fault of their own. 

Against Michigan, the backfield got 13 attempts total as a group, while quarterback John Mateer got 13 by himself. The number was up to 20 for the running backs against New Mexico, but they still felt like empty touches. Mateer still led the team with 10 carries. 

Lloyd Avant led the backfield with eight rushes for 27 yards. Next was Jonathan Hatton Jr. with six carries for eight yards, followed by Tory Blaylock with four for two yards, then Xavier Robinson with two for nine yards. 

The distribution of touches seems sporadic and doesn’t give any running back a chance to find a groove and get going. 

There’s a thought in football that if you have two quarterbacks, then you have none. For OU, with four running backs, there will be no successful running game.

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