Why Oklahoma HC Brent Venables Still Has Faith in ‘Ball Junkie’ Ben Arbuckle

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s offense can’t afford any more performances like the one it put together against Michigan.

In the Sooners’ 17-10 loss to the Wolverines in Ann Arbor on Saturday, they logged only 289 offensive yards and averaged just 3.4 yards per carry. OU’s lone touchdown came on a touchdown that John Mateer threw to Mackenzie Alleyne in the third quarter — but other than that, Mateer struggled, completing just 17 of 33 passes for 189 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

The Michigan game marked the 15th contest for OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, who joined the staff prior to the 2025 season. The unit has yet to find a consistent identity under Arbuckle, who previously served as the offensive coordinator at Washington State and Western Kentucky.

According to head coach Brent Venables, OU’s entire staff needs to do a better job of supporting the 31-year-old offensive coordinator.

“If you’re going to be successful, it’s going to be because of everybody,” Venables said. “You spend a lot of time together on both sides of the ball, staff-wise. You build trust, and great relationships, and you have a lot of honest conversations.”

There’s no denying Arbuckle’s success at his previous stops.

At WKU in 2022 — his first season as a full-time Division I coach — Arbuckle helped the Hilltoppers finish second nationally in passing yards, seventh in total offense and 15th in scoring offense. His offenses at WSU in 2022 and 2023 were similarly stellar, as the Cougars ranked 10th nationally in passing yards per game and passing touchdowns, 12th in touchdown-interception ratio and 20th in scoring offense across those two seasons.

His offense has yet to become high-flying at Oklahoma. Last year, the Sooners ranked 12th in the SEC in scoring offense (26.2 points per game) and surpassed 30 points in only one of their 10 games against Power Four opponents.

Still, Venables has plenty of faith in his young offensive coordinator.

“Ben’s a sponge, he’s a ball junkie, he loves to learn,” Venables said. “He’s got a lot of really good positive influences on that side of the ball.”

If OU’s offense performs like it did against the Wolverines, the Sooners are in for a long season.

Oklahoma will battle five more teams — Georgia, Texas, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Missouri — that are currently ranked in the AP Top 25. The Sooners will also face Florida, South Carolina and Mississippi State squads that are currently receiving votes for the rankings.

According to Venables, there is even more room for collaboration between Arbuckle and his offensive assistants after Saturday’s disappointing outing.

“You build trust, and great relationships, and you have a lot of honest conversations,” Venables said. “There’s great wisdom there. There’s a lot of collaboration to what’s going on. Both for him and his role, and the X’s and O’s space as well.”

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google