Week 4 of the college football season has some massive games. One of those is No. 22 Auburn taking on No. 11 Oklahoma in a battle of undefeated SEC teams in Norman. It also marks Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold's return to Oklahoma. Arnold began his career in Oklahoma before transferring to Auburn this offseason, so some extra headlines are entering this contest.
Ahead of the game, Auburn coach Hugh Freeze discussed those emotions Arnold might be having, but admitted he thinks it will be handled well, per Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports.
“Obviously, there's a lot of emotions and stuff, but [Arnold] is mature and he knows what it takes to win football games,” Freeze said. “Him being emotional about whatever happened in the past is not going to help us, and he knows that. He'll handle it well, I think.”
Arnold spent two seasons at Oklahoma including starting the 2024 campaign as the starter and throwing for 1,421 yards with 12 touchdowns and three interceptions. However, that wasn't what many expected from the high-ranked recruit, but Freeze spoke about the confidence the Auburn program showed in him.
“I know the lack of success he had a previous school, it always shakes and rattles your confidence, but convincing him we could help him with that, that's where the (recruiting) discussions went,” Freeze said. “No. 1, it starts with how do you judge a quarterback?” Freeze said. “And that is wins and losses and the turnover battle. He's done those extremely well, and he leads our team well. He's got this competitive spirit about him, and it's going to be needed in the upcoming games for sure.”
Arnold himself spoke about the game previously, but he shut down any notion of it being more than another game, at least on the surface.
“I'm not on social media so there's no noise for me,” Arnold said. “I'm just worried about going ot practice every day and being the best version of myself. Off the field watching tape, watching OU, just locking in and doing my job throughout the week. There's nothing more than that. It's a job for us. We go on everyday and attack it [and] make every day my best day.”
Of course, things might change going into Saturday's game and seeing Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium packed with screaming fans.
