Oklahoma OC Ben Arbuckle Faces His Biggest Challenge on the CFP Stage Against Alabama

NORMAN — The 2025 season has been a new challenge for Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle.

Not only has he had to get adjusted to a new program and battle one of the toughest schedules in the country, but he’s had to guide a quarterback through injury, play with a hampered running back room and take an offensive line with three freshmen on the road in some of the toughest environments in college football.

Despite all of that, the Sooners will host Alabama in a College Football Playoff contest tonight in one of the biggest matchups in Oklahoma Memorial Stadium history.

The season has represented a great period of growth for Arbuckle, work that hasn’t gone unnoticed by OU coach Brent Venables.

“Ben’s a great leader,” Venables said on Monday. “He’s got a great self-awareness, he leans into his staff, he’s done a very good job of helping build a culture in that room and really kind of starting over from where we were at the end of the year, lot of new faces obviously. Most of our brand new guys are on that side of the ball, and he’s done a wonderful job of plugging in the quarterback and the staff and the rest of the new players and buying in to how we do what we do.”

Oklahoma Sooners, Ben Arbuckl — Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione embraces offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle after the Sooners defeated LSU. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Friday, Arbuckle will face his biggest challenge yet.

The Sooners have had three weeks to get healthy and prepare for the CFP, but Arbuckle will have to match wits with Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack for the second time this year.

The Crimson Tide held OU to 212 yards last month, Oklahoma’s lowest output in a victory since 2001, as the Sooners leaned on their defense and special teams to win the day.

Arbuckle said this week that you can’t enter a rematch with the same game plan and expect success, and he was pleased with the work his unit got done since the regular-season finale to be ready to battle Alabama.

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“What it’s really allowed us to do is attack the things that we’re really good at, attack those things,” said Arbuckle, “and then really develop and build things that we know we need to be able to do in order to go win. Doing what winning requires. The big thing about practice is you hadn’t really played a lot of ball in the last two and a half weeks, so overemphasizing your pad level, your physicality, your ball security. Whenever you’re out there at practice, those are just little things that could creep into a game that you want to make sure that you take care of just because you haven’t played football for a long time.

“And so we’ve been able to do a lot of reflection, a lot of developing and at the same time building upon things that we feel like we’re really good at.”

Friday’s contest (7 p.m., ABC and ESPN) will come with its own challenges.

OU center Jake Maikkula is doubtful to play, meaning Febechi Nwaiwu will again have to move from right guard to center, thrusting true freshman Ryan Fodje to right guard just as Oklahoma had to do against LSU.

Oklahoma Sooners, Ben Arbuckle and John Matee — Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle speaks with quarterback John Mateer on the sideline in the second half of the Sooners' win over Missouri. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

It’s still unclear how healthy running back Xavier Robinson is after spraining his knee in Tuscaloosa. If Robinson is limited again, Arbuckle will have to rely on John Mateer, freshman Tory Blaylock and potentially a returning Jovantae Barnes to get the job done on the ground.

And Arbuckle will have to juggle all of those variables on one of the biggest stages in the sport.

But Venables hired the then-29-year-old play caller for this exact moment, and he has full faith his offensive coordinator will be able to rise to the challenge.

“(Arbuckle) shows a great passing and energy,” Venables said. “(He’s) detail-oriented and has done a great job when it comes to complementing each other — offense, defense and kicking game — and dealing with a tough injury with John and trying to lean into the strengths of the other parts of our football team and helping create confidence in the most timely moments here this season.

“The offense has been able to make a ton of big-time drives or big-time plays when we needed it the most.”