Brent Venables walked up to the podium Saturday night with a stern look and spoke with a sharp, aggressive tone. Not about the defense but directed to the offense.
Venables often explains in his postgame pressers all the ways the Sooners were imperfect on defense, not speaking with the same level of frustration for the other side of the ball. But after No. 24 OU’s (2-1) 14-6 win over New Mexico (2-1), Venables did not pull punches when speaking on the team’s offense.
“We haven't gotten into a rhythm with really much of anything,” Venables said. “But we're just too erratic and not consistent enough, not enough rhythm to what we're doing. And we're our own worst enemy. … We're getting in our own way, whether it's discipline or just a lack of focus. That's very discouraging.”
The Sooners went to the ground game early, with two run plays out the gate, only amounting to two yards. Fifth year quarterback John Mateer threw an interception on the next play, which came as his first throw of the game, as well as his first of two interceptions.
OU did find the end zone twice, through fifth year tight end Hayden Hansen breaking several tackles and fifth year wide receiver Isaiah Sategna becoming wide open. But between not finding any momentum in the run game and miscues leading to interceptions, OU did not find consistent success on offense.
Offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle acknowledged that the Sooners have no clear, effective style on offense and can only win through toughness.
“We got to put our head down and nose on the grindstone and go back to work and really figure out what we're really good at, what our identity is going to be,” Arbuckle said. “Ultimately, I think it's going to come down to being a tough, physical team.”
When it comes to the interceptions, Venables did not blame his quarterback but pointed to his offensive line and junior running back Xavier Robinson.
“The first interception, we got to protect better,” Venables said. “We just got beat. … That one's protection, and then the other is a blitz reliever. The backs, we got to execute. … (Robinson) doesn't get his head back. We have basically two on one. The receiver's blocking the corner, and the running back’s got to get his head back. … We're open. There's no defender with him, and he's going to run for a little bit if we can cover up. … But he doesn't turn around, and the ball goes right to them as a result.”
Arbuckle still held Mateer accountable for his decision making on the first interception.
“We missed a pick stunt there into the boundary, which flushed him, and he flushed and threw the ball back behind his body,” Arbuckle said. “You ask any quarterback in the country, any former quarterback, that's a cardinal sin.”
Yet, Mateer finished with a 76% pass completion rate, his best since OU’s 2025 opener against Illinois State.
As to the run game, the Sooners are not confident in any option. Arbuckle stuttered when asked about the running back hierarchy before not giving a clear answer on who they can trust.
“The backfield hierarchy, I think (Lloyd Avant's) probably taking the most snaps,” Arbuckle said. “(Jonathan Hatton Jr.) was going to play quite a bit during UTEP, and, for just circumstances, didn't really play all that much until tonight. … And we just got to continue finding who the guy in that room is. … We got to get someone rolling with some consistency (and) get somebody rolling in some rhythm.”
Offensive struggles are in abundance for the Sooners, and Venables did not want to discuss his trust in Arbuckle after the game.
“I'm not going to talk about confidence,” Venables said. “I mean, he's our offensive coordinator, and we got a lot of work to do to improve (and) to get better. We're going to need to make improvements if we're going to have a chance to win games against the teams that we're going to play.”
The Sooners are set to play No. 2 Georgia (3-0) and No. 1 Texas (3-0) and Kentucky (2-1), which just took down No. 9 Texas A&M (2-1), in their next three matchups.
Moving forward, as the need for offensive improvement only increases, Venables takes responsibility, as well as Arbuckle.
“We got to coach them better,” Venables said. “If we put it on tape, we put it on the field, and man, that's on us as coaches. So if it's crappy, it starts with me.”
