Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables fired former offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ben Arbuckle last Monday after a home loss tothe South Carolina Gamecocks. That defeat dropped OU to 4-4 in 2026, and it was the nail in the coffin for the team's CFP and SEC title hopes.
Poor offense has been the Sooners' Achilles heel under Venables for the last three years, and after less than two full seasons with Arbuckle in charge of the unit, the head coach felt it best to move on.
Venables elevated tight ends coach Jason Witten to interim offensive coordinator ahead of last week's road game against the Florida Gators, and Witten was impressive in his debut as a collegiate play-caller, taking over the role in Arbuckle's absence in a 23-7 victory.
After the game, Venables praised Witten's willingness to take control of the OU offense during a difficult week inside the Switzer Center.
"Bragging on his ambition, and his excitement for the opportunity, you can't fabricate that," Venables said. "And I certainly didn't want someone to put a toe in the water when willing to do it. I wanted someone who saw how good we could be."
Witten's version of the Sooner offense, at least for one night, looked more balanced, more thought out, and more complementary, and it led to a game that Venables deemed complete. That exact set of circumstances has been OU's problem since they got into the SEC.
"Really complete performance," Venables said. "Just really clean football game, with complementary football. Thought we really dominated the line of scrimmage."
OU threw for 207 yards and ran for 144 yards in Witten's first game. Those are hardly elite numbers, but it was the efficiency and the commitment to a game plan of running the ball, bleeding the clock and giving easy reads to the quarterback that had Sooner Nation impressed with the future NFL Hall of Famer, who was coaching high school ball this time last year.
The search for the new offensive coordinator is on in Norman, but Witten made a strong early statement in his audition for the full-time gig. It was one game, and he'll still need to improve over the next three weeks, but it's clear he impressed Venables in his first outing. Witten may not be the favorite to land the job, but he'll make things interesting if OU's offense continues to play sound football under his watch.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Brent Venables praises Jason Witten after Sooners top Gators
