Brent Venables is running out of room to stand still at Oklahoma.
After a 42-25 home loss to South Carolina on Saturday, the Sooners sit at 4-4 and still haven’t strung together back-to-back wins this season. What began with CFP hopes has been stripped down to pride and a bowl game nobody seems excited about. And through all of it, Venables has kept the program exactly where it is - no shakeup on the staff, no meaningful lineup changes, no visible urgency to try something different.
That lack of movement is what’s grinding on Oklahoma fans the most. The frustration inside Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium was impossible to miss, with more boos than cheers echoing through the building on Saturday.
It wasn’t the first time this season the crowd turned on its own team, either. The concern now is less about one bad night and more about the fear of sliding into something much worse, the kind of drift that makes a proud program start looking ordinary.
The loudest anger on Saturday was aimed at the offense, and specifically Ben Arbuckle. Student section chants of “Fire Arbuckle” broke out while Oklahoma trailed 28-10 at halftime.
Arbuckle did put together a strong plan last week, but that performance now looks like the exception, not the rule. Even the best outing he can point to only produced 23 points, which says plenty about how far expectations have fallen.
The Sooners’ wins over the last two seasons have come in spite of the offense, not because of it. Against South Carolina, the defense had scored more points than the offense until the fourth quarter. Oklahoma’s biggest win of the season, the upset of Texas in the Red River Rivalry, came with help from a special teams touchdown and a defensive touchdown.
Quarterback John Mateer has been part of the problem, too. The Washington State transfer has been inaccurate and turnover-prone, and Saturday was another uneven day.
He finished 60% passing for 244 yards and two late touchdowns, but those numbers were padded against South Carolina’s second-string defense after the game had already gotten away. Even then, his backups never got a chance to take over.
That only adds to the head-scratching around how Oklahoma is handling the position. Mateer has gone through three- and four-turnover performances and missed open receivers, yet his relief options still don’t seem to be getting any real look. By the time LaNorris Sellers was pulled in the blowout, Mateer was still on the field, as if the Sooners were trying to keep something hidden behind him.
The blame doesn’t stop with Arbuckle and Mateer. Bill Bedenbaugh is still making $1.2 million, and Emmett Jones is still coaching a receiver room that hasn’t been able to hold onto talent. The whole operation looks stuck.
That’s the part Venables can’t escape. College football doesn’t wait around for patience speeches.
It runs on production, and Oklahoma isn’t producing. If the Sooners keep going like this, the boos will only get louder - or the fans will stop showing up altogether.
Memorial Stadium, as the frustration goes, doesn’t deserve the same fate as Lloyd Noble Center.
There are plenty of examples around the sport of programs making hard calls when expectations aren’t being met. Michigan benched its former five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood even with a $12 million NIL deal.
Indiana made a quarterback change on Saturday to avoid an upset. Oregon started the season with national title expectations and fired its offensive coordinator last week once it became clear the results weren’t matching the hype.
Venables hasn’t made that kind of move. Not yet.
He has a quarterback he can bench and coaches he can fire. If he doesn’t act, and keeps talking about improvement without making any, then the pressure will only keep building around him. And if the buyout tied to his premature contract extension makes a change too expensive, then athletic director Roger Denny is going to hear plenty of that frustration, too.
At some point, Oklahoma has to choose between changing the program or letting the standard keep sinking.
In Other News...
Two Former Sooners Are Already Turning Heads In The NFL
Two former Sooners are already making an early impression in the NFL, and both have landed on a list that tends to get attention around the league. Through the first seven weeks of the 2026 season, Pro Football Focus ranked Atlanta Falcons linebacker Kendal Daniels fifth among the top 15 highest-graded rookies, while Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Robert Spears-Jennings checked in seventh.
Daniels has climbed back into the mix after returning from injury, and his 77.7 overall grade shows how quickly he has settled in once healthy. Spears-Jennings has been steady enough to stay in that conversation as well, with his grades in each game consistently landing above 60.0, a sign that both rookies are already giving their new teams something to build on. [Read more 🡒]
B.J. Edwards Gives Oklahoma A Huge Opener Boost Amid Ongoing Fight
B.J. Edwards gave Oklahoma an important lift before the season even tipped off, after a Cleveland County judge granted him a temporary restraining order that makes him eligible for the Sooners opener. The guard had been sidelined by a legal dispute over the NCAAs Five-for-Five Rule, but the ruling clears the way for him to take part as Oklahoma gets its first look at the new season.
Edwards is also part of a broader challenge to the NCAAs policy, joining other athletes as plaintiffs in a case centered on players from the high school graduating class of 2022. For Oklahoma, the immediate impact is simple: a veteran guard is back in the mix for opening night, even as the larger fight over eligibility continues to play out in court. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Faces New Week 9 Concern South Carolina Can Exploit
Oklahoma heads into Week 9 with its injury report carrying real weight, especially up front. The Sooners are already down offensive linemen Eddy Pierre-Louis and Ryan Fodje, while center Jake Maikkula is listed as questionable, leaving the staff to sort through replacement options before facing South Carolina.
The concern does not stop there. Defensive back Eli Bowen is doubtful, and Peyton Bowen is probable to suit up, but the bigger issue is how the offensive line situation could affect Oklahomas ability to handle pressure and stay on schedule. Against a South Carolina defense looking for any opening, that uncertainty is the kind of development the Sooners would rather not be managing this late in the week. [Read more 🡒]