Oklahoma’s offense has drifted a long way from the juggernaut days of Lincoln Riley, and the slide under Brent Venables has only become more pronounced.
The Sooners were a top-12 scoring team in every season from 2017 through 2021, and they finished inside the top three in points per game in both 2017 and 2018. That was the standard then. Six games into 2026, OU sits at No. 97 nationally in points per game, a sharp drop from even 2023, when current Mississippi State coach Jeffy Lebby coordinated an attack that ranked No. 3 in the country in offensive points per game.
The broader picture since Venables took over in 2022 tells the same story. Oklahoma went 6-7 in 2022, 10-3 in 2023, 6-7 in 2024 and 10-3 in 2025. This season, the Sooners are 3-3.
The offensive issues aren’t coming from one place alone. They trace back to a staff that has been built from a lot of different football worlds, with little shared background to tie it together.
Offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and quarterbacks coach John Kuceyeski arrived in 2025 after their success at Washington State. Assistant head coach for offense Kevin Wilson returned to Norman in the spring of 2025 after serving as OU’s offensive coordinator from 2002-10.
Offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh has been at Oklahoma since 2013, wide receivers coach Emmett Jones has been on staff since January 2023, tight ends coach Jason Witten came aboard in January 2026 after a 17-year NFL career and high school coaching, and running backs coach Deland McCullough joined in the February 2026 offseason after coaching in the NFL.
That mix of résumés has created what amounts to a collection of different offensive ideas under one roof. Arbuckle’s 2024 Washington State offense ranked in the top 15 nationally in points per game, but its rushing attack checked in at No.
- Wilson’s 2008 Oklahoma offense, by contrast, was No. 1 in points per game and ranked second in rushing touchdowns per game.
The contrast says plenty: Wilson’s offense leaned more heavily on the run, while Arbuckle’s team got much less production on the ground relative to its overall scoring output.
The churn at coordinator has been just as telling. Venables has had four different offensive coordinators in five seasons: Lebby, Seth Littrell, Joe Jon Finley in an interim role and Arbuckle.
The other side of the ball tells a very different story, and that difference matters. Oklahoma’s defensive staff has been far more stable, and far more connected to Venables’ coaching background.
Todd Bates, the associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator, is in his fifth season at OU and coached with Venables at Clemson from 2017-21. Defensive ends coach Miguel Chavis is also in his fifth season and was with Venables at Clemson in that same stretch.
Wes Goodwin, who joined prior to the 2025 season, previously coached with Venables at Clemson from 2012-14 and again from 2018-21. Safeties coach Brandon Hall and Venables were both Oklahoma assistants from 1999-2005, and Hall came back with Venables before the start of the 2022 season.
Assistant secondary coach Xavier Brewer was a graduate assistant at Clemson under Venables before joining OU ahead of the 2022 season.
The two exceptions on that side are Nate Dreiling and LaMar Morgan, who came to Norman from Utah State and Michigan, respectively.
That continuity has shown up in the personnel, too. On offense, Jacob Jordan was the only player with more than two years in the program to record a snap against Kentucky. On defense, there were 11 such players on the field Saturday.
The results have been obvious. Oklahoma’s defense has turned into a top-10 unit under Venables, a major leap from where it began. The offense, though, has not followed that same path.
In other words, the formula that has worked for Venables on defense - stability, familiarity and retention - has not been carried over to the offensive side. The numbers show the gap.
In Other News...
Oklahoma's Defense Gets A Serious Warning Before Mississippi State
Mississippi State brings a very different kind of test into the matchup, one built around a veer-and-shoot offense that leans on numbers in the run game and works in run-pass options when the look is right. For Oklahomas defense, that means the assignment is less about one dramatic wrinkle and more about staying disciplined snap after snap, keeping the front sound and making sure the Bulldogs dont turn the ground game into easy yards.
The tempo and pace also raise the pressure on the Sooners to communicate cleanly and line up correctly before the ball is snapped. If Oklahoma can stay connected and execute consistently, it can force Mississippi State to work longer drives and avoid the kind of explosive plays that make this offense so difficult to contain. [Read more 🡒]
Ben Arbuckle May Have Found What Oklahoma's Offense Needed
Ben Arbuckle's latest outing as Oklahoma's offensive play-caller offered a clearer picture of what the Sooners have been chasing. In a 23-15 win over Mississippi State that pushed Oklahoma to 4-3, the offense leaned into the running game and turned in its most productive day of the season, finishing with 467 total yards while staying efficient and controlled.
John Mateer did his part by completing 76% of his passes without a turnover, and the backs helped carry the load on the ground. Just as important for Oklahoma, the offense kept the clean sheet it needed by avoiding sacks and giveaways, a combination that gave the Sooners a steadier rhythm than they've had at times this fall and hints at a formula worth building on. [Read more 🡒]
Sooners Finally Got The Formula Right But One Problem Wont Go Away
For one Saturday in Starkville, Oklahoma looked a lot more like the team it expected to be when it entered SEC play. The Sooners beat Mississippi State 23-15 at Davis Wade Stadium, moved to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the league, and finally put together the kind of clean offensive and defensive showing that has been too rare this fall. John Mateer set the tone with 283 passing yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers, and Oklahomas defense did enough to keep Mississippi State under control for most of the afternoon.
Still, the win did not come without another familiar concern hanging over it. The Sooners left points on the field with missed field goals by Sandell, a reminder that even when the broader formula works, the margins remain too tight for comfort. Oklahoma got the result it needed and some much-needed traction in conference play, but the lingering issue is whether it can keep that balance intact when the pressure rises again. [Read more 🡒]