The Oklahoma Sooners defeated the New Mexico Lobos 14-6 on Saturday night, winning ugly to improve to 2-1. A stellar defensive performance was nearly outdone by a completely incompetent offense, and with Georgia and Texas looming in the next two games, OU's season is in the danger zone just a quarter of the way through.
Offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle was hired less than two years ago to fix what had become an absolutely pitiful offense in Norman in 2024. After his unit took a step forward last year, this looks awfully like the 2024 offense again this year. As a result, Arbuckle's job is on the line over the next few weeks, and he isn't the only one on a hot seat in Norman.
After the win, head coach Brent Venables said that there was nothing
that the offense could hang their hat on right now. In his postgame press conference, Arbuckle shared that sentiment.
"Yeah, I think there's a lot of things that we got to continue getting better at," Arbuckle said. "I don't think there's any jumping around it, any skipping around it. We got to put our head down, nose on the grindstone, go back to work and, really figure out what we're really good at, what our identity is going to be. Ultimately, I think it's going to come down to being a tough, physical team."
That statement is telling, as the Sooners are once again an offense without an identity under Venables. Despite a defense expected to play well consistently, Oklahoma won't get anywhere until they fix the offense. That starts with finding an identity.
During the offseason, it seemed like OU was transitioning to a more power-running, ball-control, heavier personnel offense. Sure, the Arbuckle Air Raid staples would still be there, but the offense's identity was going to be physicality and a strong rushing attack. In the season opener against UTEP, it looked like Oklahoma had embraced that identity.
Since then, the Sooners have looked discombobulated and rudderless on offense. There's no rhythm or bread-and-butter to fall back on; nothing works. Finding an identity is supposed to happen from January to August, not in the middle of the season, but that's where Oklahoma is.
This is a familiar position for Venables, as it's exactly where he sat 24 months ago. That led to Arbuckle's arrival, and it's starting to look like another misfire.
Oklahoma's future will be decided by what both of these men do going forward. For Arbuckle, that's figuring out a way to make his unit useful in some form or fashion. For Venables, that's figuring out what needs to change so that the Sooners can have sustained success on offense under his leadership.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: OU's Ben Arbuckle still looking for an identity on offense
