Brent Venables 'Excited' for 'Opportunity' That Lies Ahead for Oklahoma's offense in the Alamo Bowl

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s offense will look noticeably different in the Alamo Bowl.

When the No. 12-ranked Sooners take the field in San Antonio against No. 14 Arizona on Dec. 28, true freshman Jackson Arnold will have full control of the team.

Making his first start without Dillon Gabriel, the personnel around Arnold will look a bit different as well.

Center Andrew Raym opted out of the contest to get a head start on NFL Draft prep, and right tackle Tyler Guyton is following the same path, though he had already been supplanted by Jacob Sexton as OU’s starter.

Right guard McKade Mettauer and left tackle Walter Rouse are finishing out the year in San Antonio, but the Sooners were dealt a blow in left guard Cayden Green’s shock entrance into the transfer portal early last week.

Not only will offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh have to scramble to replace Green as the program enters the SEC in 2024, but he’ll have to look within his own roster to plug that hole up front for Arnold against the Wildcats.

And oh, the conductor of Oklahoma’s entire offense has changed as well.

Seth Littrell, who was elevated to co-offensive coordinator alongside Joe Jon Finley after Jeff Lebby’s departure, will step back into the booth to call the game.

Even Arnold said he’s not sure how much different the offense will look in the Alamo Bowl, as Littrell will save any far-reaching changes for spring practice when he has an entire offseason to install his system, but the goal for the offense hasn’t changed in Venables’ eyes.

“It’s about players, not the schemes,” Venables said last week. “And again, sometimes you can be in a bad scheme, but make sure that it’s player centered and then go from there. Don’t overcomplicate it. There’s that KISS (keep it simple stupid) technique that everybody talks about, so make sure that these guys have a …. By the team we leave here next Tuesday the game plan’s in, we feel great about it.

“We’re going to go down to San Antonio, enjoy ourselves and polish up the game plan and be ready to play really aggressive, attacking, fundamental football.”

As important as the next stage of Venables’ program building project — totally handing the offense over to Arnold — will be, the OU head coach has a long history with both coaches that he’s interested with the offense.

Both Finley and Littrell played at Oklahoma while Venables was the defensive coordinator, a bond he hasn’t taken for granted.

He’s worked with Coach Finley for the past two years, as well as integrating Littrell onto the staff over the past year, which is a new wrinkle to Venables’ relationship with Littrell that he’s been happy to explore.

“It’s not my responsibility, ‘Let me find the guys that have OU lineage to hire ‘em.’ I know you’re not saying that,” Venables said, “but (Littrell’s), you know, incredibly qualified.

“But it is super cool for me. He’s one of my… I just had such admiration and respect when he was here as a player, and I got here, and I’m like, ‘that’s who I want my kid to be, that’s what I want my linebackers to be.’ And that’s what a captain should be. A guy that loves it, loves to compete, shows up every day with appreciation, toughness that you want the game to represent.”

Arnold had a chance to build a relationship with Littrell this year even before he stepped in as the offensive coordinator.

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Early on, Arnold said Littrell was a great resource in understanding how exactly Oklahoma’s rushing attack planned to attack defenses.

“Just helping me out with run schemes,” Arnold said last week. “He was big in that part of the game plan at UNT, run schemes. He's teaching me how some of those work.

“Honestly, for me and him, we were learning together in the spring. He was coming in trying to learn Coach Lebby's terminology and so was I. So we kind of fed off each other in the spring.”

Last year, the Sooners rebuilt the entire offensive line for the Cheez-It Bowl against Florida State.

Mettauer was the only consistent starter from the regular season who played in Orlando, but still he bumped over from left guard to right guard for the bowl game.

Another year on, Venables isn’t intimated by all the work the offense has had to do since beating TCU in the regular season finale.

He’s far from discouraged, and excited to get to San Antonio to see how the unit will fare.

“You say challenge. I just look at opportunity,” Venables said. “It’s better now kind of working through all that than next year. Get baptized going into the SEC… There’s some newness to it. Yeah, you have a small amount of time. In a perfect world you’d have more time. But that’s just not where college football — we’re not the only team. It’s across the country. So we’ll adjust and adapt.

“The coaches are excited. Players are excited… Just an opportunity to go out and play another game together.”

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