Jackson Arnold runs for 2 scores, passes for another as No. 15 Oklahoma tops Tulane 34-19

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Jackson Arnold ran for two touchdowns and threw for another as No. 15 Oklahoma beat Tulane 34-19 on Saturday.

Arnold passed for 169 yards and ran for 97. Taylor Tatum caught a touchdown pass and ran for a score, and Deion Burks caught seven passes for 80 yards to help lead the Sooners.

Oklahoma (3-0) won its final tune-up before it plays its first Southeastern Conference game next Saturday at home against Tennessee.

Oklahoma expected a battle. Tulane was coming off a 34-27 loss to then-No. 17 Kansas State last week. And the Sooners remembered the close call in 2021, when No. 2 Oklahoma held on to beat the Green Wave 40-35.

Darian Mensah completed just 14 of 32 passes for 166 yards for Tulane. Makhi Hughes ran for 71 yards and caught a touchdown pass for the Green Wave (1-2).

The Sooners held Tulane to 279 yards and ended the Green Wave’s 10-game road win streak.

Oklahoma took a 21-0 lead in the second quarter, but Tulane stayed in it when backup quarterback Ty Thompson connected with Reggie Brown for a 7-yard touchdown pass with 19 seconds left in the second quarter. The extra point failed, and the Sooners led 21-6 at halftime.

The Green Wave hung tough. Hughes' 8-yard touchdown catch on fourth down was upheld upon review, and Tulane cut Oklahoma's lead to 24-13 in the third.

Tyler Grubbs' 22-yard interception return for a touchdown to start the fourth quarter threw a scare into the Sooners. The Green Wave missed the 2-point conversion, and Oklahoma's lead was cut to 24-19.

Arnold's second TD run, a 24-yarder, put the Sooners up 31-19 with 6:05 to go.

Tulane: For the second straight week, the Green Wave found themselves in the game in the fourth quarter against a high-level Power Four opponent and couldn't finish the deal. Tulane had no turnovers through three quarters, but two in the fourth.

Oklahoma: The defense was good again, but the passing game has yet to produce 200 yards in a game. The Sooners have made up for their aerial struggles with timely plays on offense and an opportunistic defense.

Tulane: Visits Louisiana on Saturday.

Oklahoma: Hosts No. 7 Tennessee in its Southeastern Conference opener next Saturday.

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Tulane quarterback Darian Mensah (10) passes against Oklahoma during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Norman, Okla. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Oklahoma running back Taylor Tatum (8) dives in for a touchdown against Tulane during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Norman, Okla. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Oklahoma running back Jovantae Barnes (2) runs for a first down against Tulane during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Norman, Okla. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Tulane safety Bailey Despanie (32) hits Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold late and gets called for unnecessary roughness during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Norman, Okla. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold (11) passes against Tulane during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Norman, Okla. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

The path for the NFL's Washington Commanders to return to the nation’s capital is clear after an on-again, off-again saga in Congress ended early Saturday with a postmidnight reprieve.

The U.S. Senate passed a resolution to transfer the land including old RFK Stadium from the federal government to the District of Columbia. The D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act passed by voice vote at roughly 1:15 a.m. after more than a year of lobbying and support from Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., district Mayor Muriel Bowser, Commanders controlling owner Josh Harris and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“We are extremely grateful that our elected officials have come together on a bipartisan basis to give Washington, D.C., the opportunity to decide on the future of the RFK Stadium site," Harris said. "This bill will create an equal playing field so that all potential future locations for the home of the Washington Commanders can be fairly considered and give our franchise the opportunity to provide the best experience for all of our fans.”

The RFK Stadium land provision was part of Congress’ initial short-term spending bill Tuesday before it was torpedoed by President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the latter of whom amplified misinformation about the site on his social media platform X. Two versions of the House's slimmed-down bill, including the one that passed Friday night to avoid a government shutdown, did not include it.

Giving the local government control of the land for the next 99 years allows for the decaying husk of the old stadium to be torn down and the site redeveloped for any number of things. One of the possibilities is a football stadium and surrounding entertainment options at the franchise's former home.

“We appreciate the bipartisan group of Congressional leaders who made this important breakthrough possible,” the NFL said in a statement. “Washington, D.C., will now have a long-overdue seat at the table when it comes to the location of a new Commanders stadium.”

Bowser called it “a win for D.C., for our region and for America.”

“Everybody loves a good comeback story — and that’s D.C.’s story,” she said.

All that awaits is President Joe Biden's signature to become law, which could come as soon as Saturday. Comer went as far as saying that Senate passage of the bill is “a historic moment for our nation's capital.”

“If Congress failed to act today, this decaying land in Washington would continue to cost taxpayers a fortune to maintain,” he said. “Revitalizing this RFK Memorial Stadium site has been a top economic priority for the city. ... This bipartisan success is a testament to the House Oversight Committee’s unwavering effort to protect taxpayers and our full commitment to ensuring a capital that is prosperous for residents and visitors for generations to come.”

Playing in Washington again is no sure thing. The Commanders are also considering other places in the district, Maryland and Virginia to build a stadium in the coming years.

Their lease at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, runs through 2027. Harris called 2030 a “reasonable target” for a new stadium.

The team played at RFK Stadium 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) east of the Capitol from 1961-96 before moving to Maryland. Harris and several co-owners, including Mitch Rales and Mark Ein, grew up as Washington football fans during that era, which included the glory days of three Super Bowl championships from 1982-91.

Ein said on social media, “Still many steps to go and even bigger than a possible stadium last night’s bill was an extraordinary moment of bi-partisan and regional cooperation to do something big and important and get 174 acres of unused, blighted and critical land to DC so they can bring it back to life.”

Part of the way the provision got into the bill initially involved an agreement between the team and Maryland to tear down the current stadium in a timely fashion and redevelop the site with a project of equal economic impact, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press earlier this week on condition of anonymity because the deal was not being publicized.

After the Senate greenlit the RFK Stadium land transfer, Maryland Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, both Democrats, said they continued to believe their state's partnership with the team should continue long into the future.

“After working to level the financial playing field, and receiving assurances that should the team move they will redevelop the existing site in a manner that meets the needs of the community, tonight we supported the proposed land transfer legislation,” Cardin and Van Hollen said. "We have always supported the District’s effort to control its own land, and through regional discussions and cooperation, our concerns with this proposal have been addressed.”

The team has played games in Maryland since 1997 and practices in Ashburn, Virginia, not far from Dulles International Airport.

A return to the district would be another victory for Bowser, who on Thursday celebrated the start of an $800 million downtown arena renovation that is keeping the NBA's Wizards and NHL's Capitals in town. At that news conference, she took aim at Musk for sharing incorrect information on X, formerly Twitter, about taxpayers footing the bill for a new stadium.

The bill specifically prohibits the use of federal funds for a stadium on the site, “including training facilities, offices, and other structures necessary to support a stadium.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

FILE - A vehicle pushes up pikes of snow after trucks dump their loads of snow in the parking lots of RFK Stadium in Washington, Monday, Jan. 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)