Is OU football offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle coaching for his job? How he responded
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NORMAN — Ben Arbuckle strolled into the MidFirst Bank East Stadium Club, which towers over Owen Field, with a pep in his step.
The young Oklahoma offensive coordinator, who turned 31 on Tuesday, didn’t mince words. From the second he took the lectern, Arbuckle took responsibility for the Sooners’ offensive ineptitude during their 17-10 loss to Michigan.
“Yeah, all right. Here we go,” Arbuckle shouted into the mic.
It’s been a noisy 72 hours surrounding the OU offense, especially when it comes to Arbuckle’s longtime pupil, quarterback John Mateer, who wasn’t near good enough to give the Sooners a chance to win a marquee road game.
Arbuckle has also taken flak for his playcalling, abandoning things that were working early and for his overall gameplan.
If things don’t improve quickly, it’s pretty clear Arbuckle is coaching for his job.
After all, OU elevated veteran coach Kevin Wilson to assistant coach with a $500,000 salary, while surrounding Arbuckle with brilliant football minds in running backs coach Deland McCullough and tight ends coach Jason Witten.
Arbuckle was asked point blank if he thought about his job status. Being the Sooners’ offensive coordinator is historically one of the more pressure-cooked gigs in the country.
“I haven't thought about that one bit,” he said. “I take each week, it’s a week by week basis of how can I put together a game plan, how can I install with our guys, get them to understand it. How can I get them to go execute it as high of a level as possible? And that's the only thing that is on the forefront of my mind, is these players and how to get them to go play at a really high level.
“So to answer your question there, that's what's on my mind.”
One of Arbuckle’s main obstacles heading into Week 3 is helping Mateer improve.
Arbuckle knows OU’s quarterback better than anyone in the building. This is his fourth season with him dating back to their time together at Washington State.
Mateer was consistently off on his throws against the Wolverines, more times than not sailing them over receivers' heads. Arbuckle put Mateer’s play on his shoulders as well and said he needs to do a better job of creating more cohesion between the two of them.
“Tthere's just a little bit different on everything,” Arbuckle said. “Is there pressure there? Is he moving off the platform? Is he escaping from the pocket? What is happening? Is there tight, sticky man coverage? What is it? That showed up on everything. But at the end of the day, with a few sail passes here or there and some decisions there, John's play was totally uneven.
“We have to work to rectify that.”
It comes down to taking the layups that are there, coach Brent Venables has said a few times now this week.
And were there ever layups to be made last Saturday.
Mateer missed a plethora of wide-open receivers, including a crossing Rocky Beers late in the game that would’ve easily been a first down. He even struggled with accuracy on screen plays.
“As a playcaller you’re always looking for those layups,” Arbuckle said. “As a quarterback you’re always looking for those layups. I wasn’t a great quarterback. I was an average as grits quarterback. But my god I love the layups and I knew when they were there. You’ve got to demand it. You get what you demand. You’ve got to execute it and you’ve got to practice it.
“That’s the standard of our program. We are a practice-first program. How do you get better at football? You practice it. And you have to continue doing that. You’ve got to strain, you’ve got to demand it and as a playcaller I’ve got to find as many layups as possible consistently and go out there and watch them execute it.”
Perhaps the biggest knock on Arbuckle, particularly in the first half of last weekend’s game, was not utilizing enough of running back Lloyd Avant, who was averaging 6.6 yards per carry on five carries in the first half.
After a full offseason of talk about improving in the run game, Arbuckle turned OU’s offense into a largely pass-first operation against Michigan for most of the game.
The Sooners also went away from larger packages, utilizing multiple tight ends in formations and having Mateer go under center with play-action passes.
“They did a great job early of running, getting downhill,” Arbuckle said. “And not to get too far into the scheme or situations of football, but for instance, the very first play of the game that we ran Lloyd, we actually ran it three more times that game, but there's an option on it, too.“Not to get too far in the scheme, if the defense gives us a certain look, we throw the quick little jet pass on the perimeter because we believe that is something that we could do really well in that game.”
Arbuckle will need to figure it all out quickly.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier, with No. 2 Georgia and No. 1 Texas away from home on the horizon.
The young offensive mind said all of the right things Tuesday. It's still a long season.
Now, it’s time to go to work.
Brent Venables says more tight ends need to be ‘big part’ of offense
The lack of 12 and 13 personnel, or multiple-tight end formations, was another mind boggling aspect of the loss.
The main takeaway from Oklahoma’s season-opening win was how well the new-look offense centered on larger packages fared.
“Generally speaking from Week 1 against UTEP: What that group of guys, 12 and 13, were able to do, it's got to be a big part of what we are each and every week,” Venables said Tuesday.
The thought was that by utilizing more big bodies, pressure would be taken off Mateer. Not to mention more options.
Expect to see many more tight ends on the field come Saturday against New Mexico.
“If you're in 12 and 13 personnel sets and you're throwing the ball off of it, there's a bunch of different things that you can do off of it,” Arbuckle said. “You can boot action out of it. You can movement. You can be in a 12 or 13 set, and the tight ends go now and it doesn't really do much of anything for it. You can have them chip. There's a bunch of different things that you can do out of those sets of having a tight end in that position.”
Trell Harris out for ‘foreseeable future’
Wide receiver Trell Harris will miss some time.
Harris, a transfer from Virginia, took a ferocious hit in the second quarter of the Sooners' loss to Michigan. He finished the rest of the game, totaling four catches for 43 yards.
"He's still being evaluated," Venables said. "He's going to be out for the foreseeable future."
Harris previously underwent a cleanup procedure during the offseason, causing him to miss spring camp. He returned to the field during preseason training camp and was expected to be one of the Sooners’ most impactful playmakers this season.
In his absence, increased playing time is likely coming for Washington State transfer Mackenzie Alleyne, Texas transfer Parker Livingstone and second-year player Manny Choice. Elijah Thomas will likely see more targets as well.
"Excited about those guys," Venables said. "They've shown enough to give you great confidence in what they'll do, maybe in an expanded role. Elijah Thomas is one of our most explosive guys, we've got to get him more involved more so than he is. … Mackenzie might have been the most productive guy all spring."
Harris played in all 13 games for the Cavaliers last season, registering 59 receptions for 847 yards and five touchdowns. Across two games in an OU uniform, Harris has six catches for 104 yards and a touchdown.
OU vs. New Mexico
KICKOFF: 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Owen Field in Norman (ESPN2)
Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at csulley@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing adigital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Is OU football offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle coaching for his job? How he responded
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