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The Oklahoma Sooners won 10 games and made it to the College Football Playoff in 2025, despite a glaring weakness that ultimately held them back from what they could have become. OU's defense was one of the best in the country, as head coach Brent Venables took over the play-calling duties, and full control of the defense, as the de-facto defensive coordinator. The Sooners stifled opposing offenses and learned how to win ugly.
On special teams, the Sooners improved again in 2025 under the leadership of special teams coordinator Doug Deakin. Though that unit let them down in their CFP loss, the Sooners got excellent play out of the special teams all season long.
However, Oklahoma's offense still wasn't where it needed to be. It didn't hold its own weight, and the other two phases had to carry the extra load. To be fair, the OU offense was much improved from the disaster that took place in 2024, and they deserve credit for that. On the other hand, they didn't come close to meeting the standard of high-flying offense in 2025 that Sooner Nation has grown accustomed to. Digging way back into OU's history, it's not hard at all to find powerful offenses that thrived and helped win championships, whether it was in Bud Wilkinson's Split-T or in Barry Switzer's Wishbone. However, as the 21st-century approached, a new era of offenses came with it at Oklahoma.
Since former head coach Bob Stoops' arrival in 1999, Oklahoma has always been on the cutting-edge of offensive innovation in college football's wide-open era, despite Stoops being a defensive-minded head coach. It started with Stoops' hiring of Mike Leach as the offensive coordinator, bringing his Air Raid scheme (high volume passing, minimal running, quick reads, and high-percentge throws) to Norman. When Leach left after one season, Mark Mangino took over and modified things to fit his style (more balance and power spread running), but the Sooners were still lethal offensively. The same goes for Chuck Long, who took over when Mangino left after two years, and modified things a bit again (even more power running and more pro-style feel with multiple backs/tight ends).
After four years, Long left and handed the reins to Kevin Wilson, who again modified things to fit his tastes (less pro-style, more power spread and no-huddle concepts) and coordinated some excellent offenses during his five seasons as the play-caller. Next, Josh Heupel took over, and introduced more modifications as his tenure as OC went along (more zone-read concepts, even more tempo, and more vertical shots). After four years on the job, Heupel was fired from his post, and Stoops had to find an outside face to lead his offense for the first time in over a decade-and-a-half. With different coordinators and play-callers over the years, the Sooners didn't look as much like Leach's offense anymore, and while each OC had plenty of success, Stoops wanted to get back to the roots.
So, he hired Lincoln Riley, a Leach Air Raid disciple who deployed an evolved version of the scheme (more gap-scheme runs, RPOs, play-action, and pre-snap motion than Leach's version), to run his offense. The Sooners had success under Riley's lead, and he was promoted to head coach when Stoops retired. Riley continued to call the plays, and Oklahoma regularly put up gaudy offensive numbers during the seven years that he had control of the offense.
When Riley left for USC and the defensive-minded Venables was hired to replace him and fix that side of the ball, it was time for a new voice on offense as well. That turned out to be Jeff Lebby, who installed his veer-and-shoot offense (wide splits, downhill zone run game, tempo, RPOs, and vertical shots on deep choice routes) in Norman, before leaving after two years.
Then, Venables tried to promote from within, but it turned out to be a mistake. With Seth Littrell and Joe Jon Finley in charge and trying to run hybrid parts of multiple systems (Lebby's veer-and-shoot and Littrell's Air Raid-adjacent scheme), the Sooners lost all identity on offense in 2024, one of the primary catalysts for a 6-7 season.
Enter new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ben Arbuckle, who would bring his version of the Air Raid (more QB run, controlled tempo, pre-snap motion, RPOs, play-action, rhythm/timing passing reads, and run emphasis than Leach's original model) to Oklahoma. While Arbuckle's system is similar to Riley's, there's actually another coach that Arbuckle's offense most closely mirrors.
Arbuckle's mentor is FAU head coach Zach Kittley, who got his coaching start under former Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury. In turn, Kingsbury learned the Air Raid when he was Leach's starting quarterback for The Pirate's first three years coaching the Red Raiders from 2000 to 2002. Leach and former Kentucky head coach Hal Mumme invented the Air Raid offense together, and clearly it is still prevalent all over the college football ranks today.
Kittley worked alongside other recognizable Air Raid names on Kingsbury's staff, such as Louisiana Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie and Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris, and Kingsbury was also mentored by coaches on different branches of the Air Raid tree like Dana Holgorsen and Kevin Sumlin. This means that Arbuckle has been directly or indirectly influenced by coaches who have tutored quarterbacks Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Caleb Williams, Davis Webb, Patrick Mahomes, Jayden Daniels, Geno Smith, Will Grier, Gardner Minshew, Graham Harrell, Tyler Shough, Behren Morton, Dylan Raiola, Trevone Boykin, Case Keenum, Johnny Manziel, Chandler Morris, and Drew Mestemaker, among others, at some point in their careers. Of course, it all stems from Leach, who was one of the greatest coaches of his generation.
Arbuckle's version of the Air Raid very closely resembles Kittley's, and it's a very evolved and modified modern version of what Leach installed in Norman way back in 1999. Arbuckle's humble roots have led him to another year at the controls of a blue blood program's entire offense.
The Canadian, Texas native played quarterback in high school in the Texas Panhandle. He initially wanted to play collegiately for UTSA, but ended up taking a two-year hiatus from the sport. Arbuckle returned to play two seasons (2016 and 2017) at Division II West Texas A&M, starting a few games.
Arbuckle's coaching career began when he spent two seasons (2018 and 2019) at FCS Houston Baptist as an offensive quality control assistant, where he met Kittley (the team's OC at the time) and helped coach quarterback Bailey Zappe. He coached at the high school level in 2020 in Seminole, Texas, where he was an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the first time.
In 2021, Arbuckle reunited with Kittley at Western Kentucky, and once again helped coach Zappe as an offensive quality control coach. The Hilltoppers broke records offensively that year, and Kittley was hired as Texas Tech's OC. Arbuckle was promoted to co-offensive coordinator/QBs coach, and he was calling plays and in charge of an offense for the first time at the collegiate level in 2022. That year, he coached quarterback Austin Reed, who put up excellent numbers in Arbuckle's system.
Arbuckle left after that season to take the OC/QBs coach job at Washington State under defensive-minded head coach Jake Dickert. In 2023, he coached quarterback Cameron Ward to a successful season, and did the same with quarterback John Mateer in 2024 after Ward left for Miami. After just seven years of coaching and three years of calling plays, Arbuckle was off to Norman to rescue Venables' offense, bringing Mateer with him.
In 2025, Oklahoma took a step forward under Arbuckle and Mateer, but they still weren't where they needed to be. The good news is, both are back in 2026, the offensive weaponry has been upgraded in the transfer portal, and the offensive line has more returning starters than last year. The Sooners struggled to run the ball last season, which is something Arbuckle will have to fix. It took him time to adjust to the SEC, and it took time for Oklahoma to learn the intricacies of his version of the Air Raid. Those are growing pains that the Sooners have to use to their advantage next year.
There's more good news. Though some of OU's problems in '25 fell on Mateer, he'll have an experienced QB whisperer in his ear again all winter, spring, summer, and fall. Arbuckle helped to develop Zappe, Reed, and Ward, and he'll need to continue that trend with Mateer, and his likely successor, Bowe Bentley. After injuring his thumb last year, Mateer said he struggled more to get his eyes in the right place than he did with physical limitations. That's where Arbuckle and his ability to develop QBs comes in, and Mateer's close relationship with him was surely a big reason why he eschewed the NFL Draft to stay in school.
Oklahoma's defense should be solid year-over-year with Venables in command. The special teams have grown tremendously under Deakin's watch. If Arbuckle's offense gets rolling, the Sooners could really be in business as a title contender year-in-and-year-out. That's the big key in the immediate future for OU, as Venables has worked tirelessly to build the culture the right way in Norman over the last four years. That worked paid off with a playoff trip in 2025, but the Sooners want more. To get where they want to go, they'll have to return to typical Oklahoma form on offense and start complementing the other two phases well.
One year into his tenure at OU, Arbuckle has laid the foundation for what he wants to do offensively in Norman, and he has a more favorable setup looking back at him now than he did this time last season. How he responds in his second year on the job will go a long way towards determining Oklahoma's overall team success this fall.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X@Aaron_Gelvin.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Ben Arbuckle and OU's offense absolutely must improve again in Year 2
Continue reading...
On special teams, the Sooners improved again in 2025 under the leadership of special teams coordinator Doug Deakin. Though that unit let them down in their CFP loss, the Sooners got excellent play out of the special teams all season long.
However, Oklahoma's offense still wasn't where it needed to be. It didn't hold its own weight, and the other two phases had to carry the extra load. To be fair, the OU offense was much improved from the disaster that took place in 2024, and they deserve credit for that. On the other hand, they didn't come close to meeting the standard of high-flying offense in 2025 that Sooner Nation has grown accustomed to. Digging way back into OU's history, it's not hard at all to find powerful offenses that thrived and helped win championships, whether it was in Bud Wilkinson's Split-T or in Barry Switzer's Wishbone. However, as the 21st-century approached, a new era of offenses came with it at Oklahoma.
Since former head coach Bob Stoops' arrival in 1999, Oklahoma has always been on the cutting-edge of offensive innovation in college football's wide-open era, despite Stoops being a defensive-minded head coach. It started with Stoops' hiring of Mike Leach as the offensive coordinator, bringing his Air Raid scheme (high volume passing, minimal running, quick reads, and high-percentge throws) to Norman. When Leach left after one season, Mark Mangino took over and modified things to fit his style (more balance and power spread running), but the Sooners were still lethal offensively. The same goes for Chuck Long, who took over when Mangino left after two years, and modified things a bit again (even more power running and more pro-style feel with multiple backs/tight ends).
After four years, Long left and handed the reins to Kevin Wilson, who again modified things to fit his tastes (less pro-style, more power spread and no-huddle concepts) and coordinated some excellent offenses during his five seasons as the play-caller. Next, Josh Heupel took over, and introduced more modifications as his tenure as OC went along (more zone-read concepts, even more tempo, and more vertical shots). After four years on the job, Heupel was fired from his post, and Stoops had to find an outside face to lead his offense for the first time in over a decade-and-a-half. With different coordinators and play-callers over the years, the Sooners didn't look as much like Leach's offense anymore, and while each OC had plenty of success, Stoops wanted to get back to the roots.
So, he hired Lincoln Riley, a Leach Air Raid disciple who deployed an evolved version of the scheme (more gap-scheme runs, RPOs, play-action, and pre-snap motion than Leach's version), to run his offense. The Sooners had success under Riley's lead, and he was promoted to head coach when Stoops retired. Riley continued to call the plays, and Oklahoma regularly put up gaudy offensive numbers during the seven years that he had control of the offense.
When Riley left for USC and the defensive-minded Venables was hired to replace him and fix that side of the ball, it was time for a new voice on offense as well. That turned out to be Jeff Lebby, who installed his veer-and-shoot offense (wide splits, downhill zone run game, tempo, RPOs, and vertical shots on deep choice routes) in Norman, before leaving after two years.
Then, Venables tried to promote from within, but it turned out to be a mistake. With Seth Littrell and Joe Jon Finley in charge and trying to run hybrid parts of multiple systems (Lebby's veer-and-shoot and Littrell's Air Raid-adjacent scheme), the Sooners lost all identity on offense in 2024, one of the primary catalysts for a 6-7 season.
Enter new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ben Arbuckle, who would bring his version of the Air Raid (more QB run, controlled tempo, pre-snap motion, RPOs, play-action, rhythm/timing passing reads, and run emphasis than Leach's original model) to Oklahoma. While Arbuckle's system is similar to Riley's, there's actually another coach that Arbuckle's offense most closely mirrors.
Arbuckle's mentor is FAU head coach Zach Kittley, who got his coaching start under former Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury. In turn, Kingsbury learned the Air Raid when he was Leach's starting quarterback for The Pirate's first three years coaching the Red Raiders from 2000 to 2002. Leach and former Kentucky head coach Hal Mumme invented the Air Raid offense together, and clearly it is still prevalent all over the college football ranks today.
Kittley worked alongside other recognizable Air Raid names on Kingsbury's staff, such as Louisiana Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie and Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris, and Kingsbury was also mentored by coaches on different branches of the Air Raid tree like Dana Holgorsen and Kevin Sumlin. This means that Arbuckle has been directly or indirectly influenced by coaches who have tutored quarterbacks Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Caleb Williams, Davis Webb, Patrick Mahomes, Jayden Daniels, Geno Smith, Will Grier, Gardner Minshew, Graham Harrell, Tyler Shough, Behren Morton, Dylan Raiola, Trevone Boykin, Case Keenum, Johnny Manziel, Chandler Morris, and Drew Mestemaker, among others, at some point in their careers. Of course, it all stems from Leach, who was one of the greatest coaches of his generation.
Arbuckle's version of the Air Raid very closely resembles Kittley's, and it's a very evolved and modified modern version of what Leach installed in Norman way back in 1999. Arbuckle's humble roots have led him to another year at the controls of a blue blood program's entire offense.
The Canadian, Texas native played quarterback in high school in the Texas Panhandle. He initially wanted to play collegiately for UTSA, but ended up taking a two-year hiatus from the sport. Arbuckle returned to play two seasons (2016 and 2017) at Division II West Texas A&M, starting a few games.
Arbuckle's coaching career began when he spent two seasons (2018 and 2019) at FCS Houston Baptist as an offensive quality control assistant, where he met Kittley (the team's OC at the time) and helped coach quarterback Bailey Zappe. He coached at the high school level in 2020 in Seminole, Texas, where he was an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the first time.
In 2021, Arbuckle reunited with Kittley at Western Kentucky, and once again helped coach Zappe as an offensive quality control coach. The Hilltoppers broke records offensively that year, and Kittley was hired as Texas Tech's OC. Arbuckle was promoted to co-offensive coordinator/QBs coach, and he was calling plays and in charge of an offense for the first time at the collegiate level in 2022. That year, he coached quarterback Austin Reed, who put up excellent numbers in Arbuckle's system.
Arbuckle left after that season to take the OC/QBs coach job at Washington State under defensive-minded head coach Jake Dickert. In 2023, he coached quarterback Cameron Ward to a successful season, and did the same with quarterback John Mateer in 2024 after Ward left for Miami. After just seven years of coaching and three years of calling plays, Arbuckle was off to Norman to rescue Venables' offense, bringing Mateer with him.
In 2025, Oklahoma took a step forward under Arbuckle and Mateer, but they still weren't where they needed to be. The good news is, both are back in 2026, the offensive weaponry has been upgraded in the transfer portal, and the offensive line has more returning starters than last year. The Sooners struggled to run the ball last season, which is something Arbuckle will have to fix. It took him time to adjust to the SEC, and it took time for Oklahoma to learn the intricacies of his version of the Air Raid. Those are growing pains that the Sooners have to use to their advantage next year.
There's more good news. Though some of OU's problems in '25 fell on Mateer, he'll have an experienced QB whisperer in his ear again all winter, spring, summer, and fall. Arbuckle helped to develop Zappe, Reed, and Ward, and he'll need to continue that trend with Mateer, and his likely successor, Bowe Bentley. After injuring his thumb last year, Mateer said he struggled more to get his eyes in the right place than he did with physical limitations. That's where Arbuckle and his ability to develop QBs comes in, and Mateer's close relationship with him was surely a big reason why he eschewed the NFL Draft to stay in school.
Oklahoma's defense should be solid year-over-year with Venables in command. The special teams have grown tremendously under Deakin's watch. If Arbuckle's offense gets rolling, the Sooners could really be in business as a title contender year-in-and-year-out. That's the big key in the immediate future for OU, as Venables has worked tirelessly to build the culture the right way in Norman over the last four years. That worked paid off with a playoff trip in 2025, but the Sooners want more. To get where they want to go, they'll have to return to typical Oklahoma form on offense and start complementing the other two phases well.
One year into his tenure at OU, Arbuckle has laid the foundation for what he wants to do offensively in Norman, and he has a more favorable setup looking back at him now than he did this time last season. How he responds in his second year on the job will go a long way towards determining Oklahoma's overall team success this fall.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X@Aaron_Gelvin.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Ben Arbuckle and OU's offense absolutely must improve again in Year 2
Continue reading...
