SAN ANTONIO — Jackson Arnold offered a steely stare toward the back of the room as his coach, Brent Venables, broke down the highs and lows of Arnold’s first career start.

The result wasn’t what OU wanted — a 38-24 Alamo Bowl defeat to Arizona — but Arnold showed off his unflappable nature during the game as much as he did in the postgame press conference.

“This is a strong dude that’s very process-driven,” Venables said of Arnold. “He’s very committed. He’s relentless with his work ethic, and he’ll bring out the best in everybody. He’s a great leader and incredibly skilled.”

Late in Venables’ answer, Arnold looked to his head coach without much change of expression, before looking back ahead.

The Sooners turned the page to Arnold and it looks like they’ll be just fine at quarterback as they make the move to the SEC next season.

The beginning of the game was disastrous for Arnold and the Sooners  — two interceptions in the freshman’s first eight attempts.

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Jackson Arnold had 'some phenomenal moments'

The end was disappointing — a sack was compounded by a fumble with less than four minutes remaining, leading to Arizona’s final score two players later to put the game away. Then Arnold was sacked again on third-and-20 in the final minutes to add another bit of insult to the outcome.

But in between, Arnold looked every bit of the part of the five-star phenom that took any sting out of Dillon Gabriel’s departure for Oregon.

Arnold finished 26-of-45 passing for 361 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.

“He had some phenomenal moments tonight and gave us a chance going into the fourth quarter having a chance to win,” Venables said.

The passing yardage was the most for an OU starting quarterback since Baker Mayfield threw for 388 yards against Akron in his Sooners’ debut in 2015.

His completions were the most in an OU starting debut since Blake Bell completed 27 against Tulsa in 2013.

But what every regular OU starter from Mayfield through Gabriel was able to do in their starting debut was avoid interceptions.

Neither Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, Spencer Rattler, Caleb Williams, nor Gabriel had an interception in their first career starts.

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Arizona a tough foe for Jackson Arnold's first start

Of course, they also weren’t starting against a team like Arizona.

Of that group, only Williams, whose first start came against TCU in October 2021, took over as the starter at any point other than the start of the season.

Murray’s first start — as the regular starter; he made a one-drive start in 2017 after Mayfield was disciplined — came against Florida Atlantic in 2018.

Hurts’ came against Houston, Rattler’s against Missouri State and Gabriel’s against UTEP.

Arnold had moments of brilliance — a 10-yard touchdown to Nic Anderson late in the second quarter, his 63-yard moonshot of a touchdown pass to speedster Brenen Thompson to start the second half and his 19-yard run to plays before that first touchdown pass.

But the turnovers are hard to forget.

Genesis Smith stepped in front of Drake Stoops to pick off Arnold on the Sooners’ third offensive play of the game.

Later in the first quarter, Stoops raised his hand to call for the ball and for a moment, he was wide open. Arnold, however, was late getting the ball to Stoops and by the time he did, Gunner Maldonado slid over to pick off the pass.

On the first play of the third quarter, just after Arizona got back into the game with a long fumble return for a touchdown, Martell Irby picked off Arnold on another pass intended for Stoops.

“Those mistakes were on me,” Arnold said. “I’m going to take the full blame for that. I’ve just got to be better. I thought they (OU offensive coordinator Seth Littrell and co-offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley) put me in great positions to win tonight, and lack of execution was the problems that we had tonight.”

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'Jackson is a baller'

Even with the disappointment of the loss still very fresh, Arnold said there were lessons to be taken from the game for him — both in the difficult start and end and in the middle when he flashed excellence.

Arnold brought up a pregame message delivered to the team.

“I’d say just to battle through adversity,” Arnold said. “Our team chaplain this morning, that was the main focus was battling through adversity because it’s going to strike at some point and it did tonight.

“Obviously there’s things that went bad tonight, but just learn to keep my head up and keep playing through it no matter what is something I take away from the night.”

Immediately after the game, as Arizona was celebrating, Sooners linebacker Danny Stutsman sought out Arnold and offered some encouraging words, saying the team still had full faith in the 19-year-old.

“It’s obvious,” Stutsman said when asked why he professed his belief in that moment. “Jackson is a baller and we have full faith in him. First career start, he played his heart out. Every time he takes that field, I have so much confidence in that offense and everything that they do. I love him to death. …. Oklahoma has his back, that entire locker room with Jackson, and this changes nothing.”

On a night when the Sooners had more turnovers than they’ve had in any game since 1997, Arnold still somehow gave them a chance to overcome it, until he finally couldn’t.

Earlier in the week, Venables compared Arnold’s demeanor to that of Sam Bradford. Arnold showed that same stoicism after the game, and that played into Venables once again expressing confidence in Arnold moving forward, even if the freshman mistakes came in bunches.

“I know we’ve got the right guy, and we’ve got the right group there,” Venables said. “Broad shoulders, level headed, incredibly humble, tough on himself, demanding of himself.

“I don’t ever worry about him having success and going to his head, and I certainly don’t worry about if he’s fragile or a head case.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football has 'full faith' in Jackson Arnold after Alamo Bowl loss