NORMAN, Oklahoma — Jackson Arnold threw two touchdown passes and No. 15 Oklahoma beat Houston 16-12 on Saturday night.

The Sooners (2-0) had trouble moving the ball and punted eight times. The Cougars (0-2) outgained Oklahoma 318-249 in total yards, including 260-174 in passing.

Oklahoma ended a drive with an interception by Robert Spears-Jennings and extended its narrow lead with a safety by Gracen Halton.

“We did enough things wrong to deserve the loss,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said. “We were lucky to find a way to win. Overall, our offensive performance wasn’t very good today. I’m really proud of the guys who stepped up when they had the chance.”

Arnold, a sophomore, completed 19 of 32 passes for 174 yards with one interception and ran for 40 yards 11 times. He was sacked three times.

“A win is a win, no matter how ugly it was,” Arnold said, “and believe me, it was ugly, but we’re taking it with us.”

Arnold was outperformed by Houston starter Donovan Smith, who rebounded from a poor performance against UNLV in a 27-7 home loss to complete 24 of 28 passes for 260 yards and a touchdown with one interception.

“I thought our guys played extremely hard, they were very competitive from the beginning to the end of the game,” said Houston coach Willie Fritz. “It was a big step forward. But when you’re playing against the No. 15 team in the country, you also have to play smart, and we made some mistakes at key moments in the game.”

Oklahoma led 14-6 at halftime. The Sooners punted on their first two possessions but led 7-0 after turning a botched punt by Houston’s Mekhi Mews into points when Arnold found receiver Brenan Thompson for a 10-yard touchdown pass on the next play.

The offense got going on the next possession, driving 81 yards in eight plays. Arnold threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jake Roberts to make the score 14-3. Houston’s Joseph Kim kicked a 43-yard field goal as time expired to bring the Cougars closer.

Houston scored on its first possession of the third quarter. Smith found Joseph Manjack behind the defense and threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-12. The 2-point conversion failed.

A promising Oklahoma drive followed, but it missed the end zone when Arnold’s pass intended for Deion Burks was intercepted by Jeremiah Wilson at the 7. It was Arnold’s first interception and the team’s first turnover of the season.

THE RESULT

The Sooners continued to struggle on offense and had to rely on their defense to bail them out. The Cougars needed a bounce-back after being embarrassed at home by UNLV, and they did that against Oklahoma, even if they couldn’t quite keep up.

FIELD POSITION

Venables praised punter Luke Elzinga, who lost two of his eight punts inside the 5-yard line and three inside the 10-yard line.

“That was a big part of the game in a field position game,” Venables said.

FURTHER REVIEW

Replays of Mekhi Mews’ missed punt, which was recovered by Oklahoma’s Lewis Carter earlier in the game, appeared to show that Mews did not touch the football. The play was reviewed, but the referees did not overturn it.

SECRET WEAPON

Oklahoma has thrown as many touchdowns to tight ends in its first two games as it did all of last year. Arnold threw a touchdown pass to Bauer Sharp in the 51-3 win over Temple and found Jake Roberts for an 11-yard touchdown on Saturday.

Next

Houston: Hosts Rice on Saturday.

Oklahoma: Hosts Tulane on Saturday.

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