Oklahoma’s bye week arrives with Brent Venables under the microscope and Sooner fans waiting for something, anything, to change.
After a 41-13 loss to No. 2 Georgia on Saturday in Athens, the Sooners sit at 2-2 and staring at a season that already feels like it’s slipping.
A road loss to Georgia alone wouldn’t be a disaster, but Oklahoma is supposed to belong in that neighborhood too. Instead, the game only reinforced how far the program still is from really competing.
The defense may be the strength, but the offense has been stuck in place for three seasons. That stretch includes the last two with offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and quarterback John Mateer, and all three years have come behind an offensive line coached by Bill Bedenbaugh that has not held up. The last three games have made the picture even clearer: with the toughest schedule in the country ahead, Oklahoma does not have the ability to score consistently unless something changes.
Venables has spent the past three weeks saying he wants improvement, especially on offense. The problem is that he’s the one who has to force it. Right now, it feels to many around the program like the same script keeps getting run with different expectations, and the results keep pointing back to the same issue.
After the loss to Georgia, Venables was asked whether staff changes could come during the bye week before Oklahoma meets No. 1 Texas in the Red River Rivalry. He did not exactly pour gasoline on that speculation.
"I'm not there right now," Venables answered. "Try to figure out what we need to do to get better and to get ready for Texas and the rest of our season. So I'm not in any kind of place to talk about something like that."
“I’m not there right now.” #Sooners Brent Venables on the potential of any staff changes ahead of the bye week. pic.twitter.com/e4TJyoVnVK
- Davis Cordova (@byDavisCordova) September 26, 2026
If there is a move to be made, the most obvious one is on Arbuckle. Fans have their own list of people they’d like to see Venables move on from before the Sooners take the field again, and the loudest noise is around Mateer. But Venables does not appear likely to make that kind of call while he remains so hands-off with the offense and also serves as a defensive coordinator.
Even if Mateer were replaced, the issues would still be there. Oklahoma would still have the same run game, the same problems up front, and the same questions in the playbook. Venables, though, does have the authority to make changes on the staff.
There was already a wave of frustration a week earlier, when OU fans spent Sunday waiting for news that Arbuckle had been fired after the Sooners barely scored against New Mexico. That performance made the Georgia matchup feel like a bad bet before kickoff, and the concern now is that the offense is headed for the same kind of dead end against the rest of the SEC.
Venables has made a midseason offensive coordinator change before, firing Seth Littrell only seven games into his tenure in 2024. Arbuckle has now gone through one full season and four games this year with the same disappointing results.
There is also an internal option sitting right there in Kevin Wilson, who was Oklahoma’s OC during some of the program’s best seasons and is currently the Assistant Head Coach for Offense. Wilson also has experience coaching offensive linemen, which could make him a possible answer in more than one spot. If Wilson could bring more structure to the offense, it could even open the door to taking pressure off an inexperienced quarterback.
A bye week before a rivalry game is about as good a time as any to shake things up. Oklahoma has that window now. Whether Venables actually uses it is another matter.
What has made this so frustrating for Sooners fans is that the changes under Venables have not felt like progress so much as a tradeoff. Oklahoma used to be known for an offense that could score but a defense that couldn’t stop anybody. Now it’s an elite defense with no offense to speak of, and for fans it has started to feel like they’re watching the same team again and again, only with a different year on the calendar.
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Oklahoma Fans May Not Like What This Bye Week Really Means
The bye week arrives with Oklahoma at 2-2 and searching for answers on an offense that has looked too uneven to trust. Brent Venables has been clear that the pieces are there for improvement, but the Sooners have not yet put it together, and the issues go well beyond a simple tweak in the playbook. Ben Arbuckle's plan against Georgia showed some signs of life, yet turnovers and shaky offensive line play kept it from turning into anything sustainable.
For Oklahoma, this pause is less about resting up and more about confronting the uncomfortable realities that have slowed the season. The quarterback room is still learning on the job, and the line has not consistently protected the passer or created room in the run game, which leaves the offense fighting uphill on nearly every series. A bye week can help clean up details, but it can only do so much when the larger problems are still sitting there in plain view. [Read more 🡒]