Ben Arbuckle Says Oklahoma Must ‘Continue to Coach’ Offense Despite Few Answers

Ben Arbuckle isn't a fool. He had a better seat to Oklahoma's 41-13 thrashing at the hands of Georgia than anyone reading this. The second-year offensive coordinator knows what worked against the Bulldogs and what didn't.

But to anyone who would ask him a question of how to remedy the Sooners' offensive woes? There doesn't appear to be an answer.

"Nobody likes turning the ball over three times, four times as an offense," Arbuckle said after the game. "It always just comes back down to the basics and execution. I have to continue being better."

That’s been a recurring theme for Arbuckle since the loss in Ann Arbor — he needs to coach better, particularly when it comes to teaching the basics and getting his players to apply them on the field.

It appears Oklahoma is stuck at a dead end with no map, compass or sense for the proper direction. Arbuckle knows that, in an ideal world, John Mateer doesn't hesitate at the goal line. He instead throws a dart to an open man for a score to bring the score to 14-7.

He knows Mateer doesn't underthrow a 5-foot-9 pass catcher over the middle of the field off his back foot resulting in another turnover. Arbuckle certainly didn't ask his quarterback to fumble on a fourth down while Elijah Thomas ran another cardio drill downfield.

Arbuckle knows all that — but any answers that may correct the problem are drowning beneath buzzwords and coach speak.

"Again, we have to continue coaching it," Arbuckle said. "The guys were out there and they were executing the gameplan. They’re playing hard, but at the end of the day, none of that really matter if you don’t take care of the football.

"They were executing, but at the end of the day, we didn’t do the basics better," he added.

At some point, it’s fair to expect players at Oklahoma to execute the basics. When they don’t, the blame falls on the adults in the room — the coaches. But Arbuckle didn’t draw up three straight turnovers, all with his quarterback at the center of them.

That's where this problem becomes even more confounding. Mateer is a fifth-year quarterback. The loss at Georgia was his 40th game as a collegiate player, all under Arbuckle (he's started 27 games). There's very little for Mateer to learn at this point in his football-playing life from his offensive coordinator.

"He knows exactly what I’m going to say before I say it," Arbuckle said. "That doesn’t make it any better. I have to continue to be a better coach. I have to continue making him protect the football, both when he’s throwing it and whenever it’s in his hands."

It’s admirable that Arbuckle believes — or at least says publicly — that he can coach the hesitation out of Mateer in critical moments, or that another film session might spare Sooner fans a particular painful flashback from the 2011 Bedlam game.

But there appears to be no coaching wisdom that can save this offense, particularly the quarterback. It truly comes down to Mateer having a good day if OU is going to have a chance for victory. Until then, Arbuckle will keep preaching the same lessons of fundamentals and hoping his quarterback puts them into practice.

"You have to flush it, forget about it, learn from the mistake, learn what happened on the mistake," Arbuckle said. "Was it a self-inflicted error? Was it a schematical error? Did the defense make a great play? What happened on that? That’s how you have to address it, but ultimately you have to flush it,”

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