NORMAN - Oklahoma’s offense has become hard to pin down, and that’s the problem.
Ben Arbuckle came to Norman with an air-raid reputation, but the Sooners are trying to play like a smashmouth team. The result has been an offense stuck in the middle, without the passing game to live on the perimeter and without the run game to bully people at the line.
John Mateer hasn’t been a dependable passer, the offensive line hasn’t opened much room on the ground, and there isn’t a true bellcow back to carry the load if the Sooners want to lean on the run. That leaves OU in an awkward spot as it heads to Georgia to play No. 2-ranked Bulldogs.
The numbers tell the story. Last season, Arbuckle’s first as OU’s offensive coordinator, the Sooners finished 92nd in total offense and 97th in yards per play. Through the first quarter of this season, they’re 115th in total offense and 99th in yards per play.
Arbuckle, who was considered a whiz at Washington State, said Tuesday that the identity he wants is built on toughness.
“Everything we do, we want it to be tough and physical,” Arbuckle said Tuesday. “That’s the identity that we want to show up on film.”
But that identity hasn’t translated into much production. Among SEC teams, OU ranks 16th in yards per game and 13th in yards per play.
A year ago, the Sooners were 12th and 14th in those categories. In 2024 under the Seth Littrell/Joe Jon Finley regime, they were 14th and 16th.
Arbuckle is in his fifth season as a playcaller, and his track record shows how much his offenses have changed. His teams ranked third nationally in pass attempts per game in 2022, second in 2023, 64th in 2024, 45th in 2025 and 95th in 2026.
He had Austin Reed at Western Kentucky in 2022, when Reed finished second nationally in passing yards per game and third in touchdown passes. In 2023 at Washington State, Arbuckle coached Cam Ward, who later became the No. 1 overall pick.
The drop in passing volume has lined up with the three seasons in which Mateer has been his starting quarterback. Mateer gives OU a different kind of threat than Reed or Ward, and Arbuckle has clearly tried to build around that.
Mateer is a much better runner than those quarterbacks, but his production on the ground has actually dipped. He is averaging fewer than nine carries per game, down from more than 12 last year and nearly 15 in 2024 at Washington State.
At this point last season, he had four rushing touchdowns. This year, he has none.
At the same time, his passing has improved. Mateer’s completion percentage, passer rating and yards gained per attempt are all up from last season.
“I’m always looking to evolve as an offensive coordinator,” Arbuckle said. “There’s a lot of things that I do that are non-negotiable staples … But based off personnel, the teams you go against, I think you always have to continue evolving.”
Arbuckle said those staples include using space effectively in both the run and pass game and keeping defenses off balance.
“Whether that’s utilizing the huddle, a speed huddle, different forms of tempo, jump shifts, trades, motions …. A lot of really good things happen whenever you do that,” Arbuckle said, “whenever you keep a defense kind of off on their heels a little bit.”
There has also been speculation that Brent Venables is limiting Arbuckle’s freedom. Venables pushed back on that idea Tuesday.
“I don’t want to be the offensive coordinator,” Venables said Tuesday when asked about Arbuckle’s autonomy as OC. “I want the offensive staff to come up with a great game plan, to have great balance, to be physical, take care of the ball, run the football, create explosive plays, have great balance, attack people’s weaknesses, all of those types of things. I want them to play with more confidence and more continuity.”
OU is tied for 126th nationally - with Oklahoma State and a few others - with a minus-four turnover differential. And while the biggest issue remains that the Sooners aren’t winning at the line of scrimmage, the giveaways are not helping.
If Oklahoma could dominate up front, it would make sense to keep pounding the ball, use the tight ends and let the defense handle the rest. But that hasn’t been the reality.
So the offense keeps drifting, trying to be a little bit of everything and becoming too little of anything. Venables, who hired Arbuckle and is responsible for the whole operation, said he is trying to help without taking over.
“My job is to go in there and not do a bunch of high-fiving, it’s to do some of the obvious things and look at things from an opponent’s lens,” Venables said.
“What are we showing? (Where) can we potentially be exposed at?
There’s a lot of collaboration and also a clean strong message about what it needs to look like. And it hasn’t looked like we want it to look like for any of us.”
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