Oklahoma's Problems This Week are Many, and They Are Major

COLUMN

ATHENS, GA — Oklahoma has a litany of problems this week.

One of those, the Sooners can’t really do anything about: that’s the Georgia Bulldogs.

If OU players and coaches thought they had their hands full with Michigan (they did) or, defying all logic, New Mexico last weekend in Norman, wait until they step inside cavernous Sanford Stadium this Saturday afternoon against the No. 2-ranked Bulldogs.

Facing a team with talent like this changes everything. You’re calling better plays this week? Good luck with that. You thought you were throwing into tight windows against the Lobos? Better sharpen that up this week. You’re getting one offensive line starter back healthy? Might want to keep an eye on him against this squad.

Anyway, from Oklahoma’s perspective, maybe Brent Venables has no real, tangible answers for OU’s other big problem: an offense that can’t move the football and can’t score points.

Venables had an edge to him in the postgame press conference after the Sooners evaded a shocking upset bid by New Mexico. He seemed agitated, perturbed, straight up ticked off. Not about the tone of anyone’s question. Not about a bad call by the officials or mental mistakes by the players.

“We gotta coach 'em better,” Venables said. “If we put it on tape, we put it on the field, then that's on us as coaches. If it's crappy, it starts with me.”

There are too many examples over the last two games to break down every time offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle called a play that either didn’t put his players in position to have success or gave them too many options to think through.

There are too many examples over the last five seasons of Bill Bedenbaugh’s offensive line being painfully unable to root out defenders — even the ones who, like Saturday, might be 30-40 pounds lighter — and create running lanes.

There are too many examples during his entire tenure at Oklahoma of Emmett Jones’ wide receivers seemingly owning unlimited talent and athletic ability only to see them, week after week, fail to make meaningful contributions.

The list goes on.

Venables can’t fix all that in a week. He probably can’t even fix it over the next three weeks as No. 1 Texas looms on Oct. 10.

Frankly, Venables hasn't shown the ability to fix anything offensively since he took the job.

He’s taken a stab at hiring offensive coordinators — each of whom came with his own limitations. Jeff Lebby needed serious oversight on both his offensive tendencies as well as some of his personal choices. Seth Littrell couldn’t design a coherent game plan or call plays that complemented other plays. Ben Arbuckle apparently thinks John Mateer is a Heisman candidate and freezes up, defaulting to Mateer every time he needs to call an important play.

Venables has shown two tendencies in his four-plus seasons: his defense is going to dominate people, and, at least every other year, his offense is going to struggle.

The pattern Venables established as a head coach from 2022-2025 appears to be firmly set and well underway again this year: 6 wins, then 10 wins, then 6 wins, then 10 wins.

Sadly, some skeptics are doubting this team’s ability to win even six games in 2026 — and maybe that’s a legitimate doubt. Just look at the schedule coming up: No. 2 Georgia in the Sooners' SEC opener, then No. 1 Texas, then No. 24 Mississippi State, No. 21 Florida, No. 4 Ole Miss, No. 23 Texas A&M and No. 19 Missouri. Kentucky (No. 27) probably should be in the Top 25. And South Carolina.

Can you confidently find five more wins among that group?

Now remember what you watched last Saturday night against New Mexico.

Former Sooner turned podcast personality Gabe Ikard said Sunday that Georgia will watch that tape and laugh at the Oklahoma offense. He’s probably right. Here's why:

Just for comparison, the Georgia roster is constructed of five recruiting classes that averaged No. 3 in the national rankings, according to 247Sports. Oklahoma’s classes from 2022-2026 averaged a rankin got No. 12. That might not sound like a lot, but it's actually a fairly big gap.

But not nearly as big as the gap that shows how well Georgia coach Kirby Smart and his staff have developed those players.

Since 2020, OU has had 33 players selected in the NFL Draft. Pretty good, right? Of those, four were picked in the first round.

Meanwhile, Georgia had 70 players drafted during that same span — 17 first-rounders.

Not only are Smart and the Bulldogs coaches signing the best players out of high school, they’re also developing all that talent into the best players in college — and getting them drafted.

And of course, Smart won back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022, and this year is aiming for the Bulldogs’ third straight SEC crown. While Venables is 0-4 in postseason games, Smart is 5-2 in the postseason since 2021 and has reeled in four SEC titles, the first coming in 2017.

That was the year Oklahoma and Georgia played for the very first time on the football field, an unforgettable College Football Playoff showdown in the Rose Bowl, won 54-48 in two overtimes by the Bulldogs.

Lincoln Riley had success early (a 31-14 lead), got cocky (a squib kick), then lost his way (his fourth-quarter and overtime play calling seemed like a cruel joke) and couldn’t turn things around (Mike Stoops was his defensive coordinator).

Those Sooners probably should have won the national championship that year. Instead, they found a way to lose to Georgia, who then found a way to lose to Alabama.

A quick snapshot of how things unfolded after the sun set on the San Gabriel Mountains that night:

Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm was 20-of-29 for 210 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, while Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield was 23-of-35 for 287 yards with two TDs and an interception.

Mayfield just signed a $165 million contract with the Buccaneers, while Fromm offers pregame studio analysis of the Bulldogs on WANF Channel 46, an independent station in Atlanta.

To the chagrin of Sooner Nation, Brent Venables has become the Lincoln Riley of defensive coaches. Where Riley stayed loyal to Stoops and Ruffin McNeill and then tried to make Alex Grinch work, Venables stayed loyal to Lebby and Littrell, then tried to make Arbuckle work.

The last time OU played Georgia, the Sooners couldn’t stop a nosebleed thanks to one of the worst defenses in college football.

Now, Oklahoma’s offense is the nosebleed, ranking 121st nationally in first downs per game, 126th in turnover margin, 123rd in rushing offense, 81st in passing offense, 99th in scoring offense and 116th in time of possession.

What Georgia and Smart have done over the last decade are another stark reminder of just how far Oklahoma had to go when it moved from the Big 12 to the SEC. After Nick Saban’s retirement at Alabama, Smart and Georgia now serve as one of the standard bearers in college football.

Oklahoma was installed as a 14-point underdog as the week began, according to Bet MGM, and that line could certainly move before Saturday.

So yeah, the Sooners have problems this week — lots of them.

* Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
* If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

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