FORWARD WORTH – Brent Venables lost his second season at Oklahoma.

Michael Hawkins Jr.’s The improvisation scored the Sooners’ second touchdown of the day with 5:56 left in the first quarter, but little did the crowd at Amon G. Carter Stadium know that those would be OU’s last points of the day.

The Navy Midshipmen scored 21 unanswered points Friday but were left sweating in the closing moments of the Armed Forces Bowl.

Hawkins led the Sooners right down the field with an excellent two-minute drill that found a tight end Jake Roberts in the back of the end zone with six seconds left.

Venables decided he would try to end the game right there.

OU went for a two-point conversion, but Hawkins was sacked and the Midshipmen held on, winning 21-20.

The win capped Navy’s sixth-ever 10-win season as the Midshipmen finish 2024 with a 10-3 record and dropped the Sooners to 6-7 for the second time in three years.

Navy also achieved a 2-0 all-time record against Oklahoma, with its other win over the Sooners coming in 1965.

Here are three takeaways from OU’s third straight bowl loss:

The Sooners finished the season as they had experienced it – inconsistent.

Oklahoma built a two-touchdown lead, turned over the clock and got occasional moments of brilliance from Hawkins.

Then OU followed the first quarter with a chaotic mess in the second quarter.

Navy’s defensive line held up much better against the Sooners’ front, the play was suspect, and the Midshipmen were able to get within one score.

Venables’ team completely squandered any advantage as a Navy quarterback Blake Horvath sprinted 95 yards to tie the game with 3:49 left in the third quarter.

The Sooners couldn’t live with the success, and a problem on offense — whether it was penalties or dropped passes — worsened as the game went on.

Then disaster struck.

Hawkins fumbled the ball on the first offensive snap after Horvath tied the game, giving Navy the ball back at OU’s 25.

The Midshipmen had to settle for a field goal shot well right of the upright, but there was no reason for the Sooners to feel any stress after they started the game, and yet Oklahoma found itself in a battle until the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma’s defense largely had a handle on Navy’s option attack.

But the few games where the Sooners missed assignments, they missed badly.

OU was able to recover after giving up two big plays in the first quarter to keep the Midshipmen off the field, but Oklahoma also benefited from Horvath delivering a few unsteady passes that cost Navy points.

Brian Newberry’s The Midshipmen gained 143 of their 319 total yards in three plays while hurting the Sooners with two touchdowns.

This meant that despite being down by two points early in the game, Navy never had to abandon their game plan.

Play without Deion BurkesFriday was a final chance for OU’s freshmen receivers to make an impact before they compete for jobs with the additions to the transfer portal later in the spring.

And at first it looked like everything was going well.

There was nothing special in the passing game in the first half of the game, but Hawkins got a goal Zion Ragins, Jacob Jordan And Ivan Carreon before Gavin Sawchuk ended the trip with a score.

Hawkins then bought time behind the line of scrimmage on the second drive to hit Zion Kearney for a 56-yard score to extend the lead.

Then the problems arose.

Run back Sam Franklin There were two drops on the second drive, which affected Ragins and Kearney and eventually even Sawchuk as the game progressed.

Unofficially, the Sooners finished with seven drops.

Oklahoma Transfer Portal Additions – Javonnie Gibson from Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Keontez Lewis of Southern Illinois and Isaiah Satenga of Arkansas — will need to make an immediate impact unless OU’s young receivers can make a huge jump this offseason after failing to make an impact in 2024.