The Oklahoma Sooners lost to the Georgia Bulldogs 41-13 in Week 4, falling to 2-2 on the season heading into their bye week. For the third time this season, the offense failed to score more than 14 points, and OU fell in embarrassing fashion.
When a team has high expectations the way Oklahoma did coming into the season, and when a program is as storied as OU is historically, and doesn't perform well, the expectation is that things will get fixed. That hasn't happened on offense, and it may never happen for as long as Venables is allowed to stay in charge.
Venables' hand-picked offensive coordinator, Ben Arbuckle, is certainly on the hot seat after just 17 games on the job in Norman. Saturday's defeat did little to help his case, and the same goes
for his position coaches on offense. Quarterbacks coach John Kuceyeski, running backs coach Deland McCullough, wide receivers coach Emmett Jones, tight ends coach Jason Witten, and offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh all have to be much better.
After the game, Venables was asked about making staff changes following another unacceptable performance.
"I'm not there right now," Venables said. "We need to try to figure out what need to do to get better and get ready for Texas and the rest of our season. I'm not in any kind of place to talk about something like that."
At some point, something has to give with the offense at OU. Perhaps Arbuckle and the assistant coaches are the problem, and a clean slate is just what Venables' program needs. After all, Arbuckle is at the helm of an offense that is incompetent right now. Or, perhaps the Sooners won't be productive enough on offense, no matter who Venables hires, as long as he is the head coach. At the end of the day, he is responsible for things being the way they are.
It's easy to say that a new OC, new position coaches, and a new quarterback would fix the problem. However, Arbuckle and John Mateer lit it up together before coming to Norman, and now they look powerless. That falls on them, yes, but also on Venables. There are eight games left in this season, and the Sooners will try their best to turn this ship around. At this point, anything should be on the table, and it's fair to wonder when Venables will make changes on his offensive staff.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Brent Venables on staff changes after loss: 'I'm not there right now'
