Ben Arbuckle Offers High Praise for Oklahoma's Physical Offense and QB John Mateer

Against a team known for being physical, from a conference known for playing physical football, it was Oklahoma last week that was the more physical team.

In fact, Saturday’s 24-13 win over Michigan at Owen Field might be one of the more physical games the Sooners have played in three-plus seasons under Brent Venables.

“I don’t know. It was a very physical game,” Venables said on Saturday night. “I think they punched back. We punched, went kind of back and forth. We’ve played plenty of physical games, but it was a physical game, no question about it. It’s a program that prides itself on being physical, and we want to do the hunting. I thought our guys did a great job of that.”

“They’re definitely a big, strong, fast, disciplined football team,” tight end Jaren Kanak said Saturday. “It was definitely physical and a bit chippy out there, and that’s football. It’s something you enjoy.”

"They were big, they were fast, they were physical and they were well-coached," OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said after the game.

Last year’s 24-3 win over Alabama was certainly in that small sample size of Venables games in which the Sooners physically overwhelmed their opponent. So was the 34-30 win over Texas in 2023, although that one was decided more by Dillon Gabriel’s precision passing in the clutch.

Certainly, the punishing nature of OU’s defense stood out Saturday against the Wolverines. But so did the OU offense.

Specifically, the Sooners hadn’t exactly controlled the line of scrimmage through the first three quarters, but then in the fourth period, with the game in the balance, OU ground out a 8 1/2-minute possession to set up the game-clinching field goal, and there wasn’t anything Michigan could do about it.

“What Coach B (Bill Bedenbaugh) just had in line for the o-line, it was straight up just be physical,” said freshman left tackle Michael Fasusi. “Be the most physical and be the toughest team out there. And I really think that's what we did. Trust in each other and just go out there and ball together, that's definitely what we did.”

Arbuckle comes from the Mike Leach-style air raid tree out of West Texas. The tenets of that scheme were never a powerful, physical running game. But OU’s offense is trending in that direction.

“He’s not stuck in any way and he’s super versatile and he trusts the guys up front," Mateer said of Arbuckle on Saturday. "You know, an Air Raid coach might want to call a bunch of pass plays in that situation but he stayed discipline to the run game and we got it done. Kudos to him because he called a great game and did a great job and told us the plan and had us all ready to go.”

The Sooners scored a touchdown on their opening drive, then closed the first half with a two-minute drill that produced a touchdown, then closed out the game with a clinching field goal.

And leading the way was quarterback John Mateer, who demonstrated to his teammates his own brand of physical football. He carried the football 19 times, occasionally resembling Blake Bell’s “Belldozer” package when Arbuckle might have been dubious about picking up a short-yardage first down with a traditional handoff to a running back.

“Whenever you have a guy who has the ability to do that, and he's a willing runner to do that, and understands moments and situations and what it takes to win,” Arbuckle said, “I think it just broadens what you can call in certain situations to try and put stress on the defense any which way.”

Probably not ideal when a QB has to run the rock 19 times and take such a pounding in short yardage, but Mateer did set an example for his teammates — and OU rose up and physically dominated the fourth quarter.

“Oh, it’s awesome knowing that he’s gonna put his head down for us and run the ball,” said right tackle Derek Simmons, “and we just have to be behind him and push the pile.”

It also elevated Mateer as a leader and a winner in the eyes of his teammates and coaches going into this week’s game at Temple.

“I personally think John Mateer’s a football player before he's a quarterback, and special one too, whenever he pulls the ball down to run,” Arbuckle said.