OU Daily assistant sports editor Louis Raser answers your questions and concerns about Oklahoma’s (4-3, 1-3 SEC) 35-9 loss to South Carolina (4-3, 2-3) on Saturday and co-offensive coordinator Seth Littrell’s firing on Sunday.
Who should replace Seth Littrell as offensive coordinator?
Since Littrell was fired, a long list of offensive coordinator candidates has emerged.
Topping that list, as of now, is co-offensive coordinator and interim play caller Joe Jon Finley, who’s also the tight ends coach. But Finley is just as unpopular as Littrell was, and seeing how poorly last year’s decision to hire from within the program went, I think Oklahoma will branch out more this season.
PHOTOS: Potential OU football offensive coordinator candidates
OU football co-offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley before the game against Arizona on Dec. 28.
As far as outside candidates, UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion and Tulane offensive coordinator Joe Craddock are two strong candidates who would seemingly explore the option of leaving their current programs to coach at Oklahoma.
Craddock has coached with Brent Venables at Clemson, so I certainly expect his name to be in the mix. I’m also inclined to think that Memphis offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey will be an attractive candidate due to his 17 years of experience as a quarterbacks coach, and Oklahoma’s dire need to develop both of its young quarterbacks.
It’s far too early to tell who the Sooners will choose, and Venables would be wise to not rush this decision, as it may determine his future in Norman.
Concern: offensive line
This is the most concerning position group on the roster as of now.
While Bill Bedenbaugh has proven his ability to develop great offensive linemen time and time again, the modern era of college football, characterized by the transfer portal and NIL, has put a larger emphasis on recruiting top talent rather than taking years to develop young players.
This offseason, Bedenbaugh failed to put a competent unit together. Oklahoma has allowed 29 sacks, the second most nationally. The Sooners are the country’s 124th most efficient rushing attack with 3.1 yards per carry.
Help is on the way with the arrival of 2025 five-star offensive tackle Michael Fasusi and four-star tackle Ryan Fodje, but questions are beginning to arise about whether Bedenbaugh is capable of landing big name transfers via the portal.
If the offensive line continues to struggle next season, Bedenbaugh’s job may be in question.
Need to find a way to get the inexperienced players up to speed
This may be the biggest concern I have about Oklahoma moving forward.
The Sooners’ recruiting classes have been highly ranked the past few seasons, but it’s not showing on the field. Eli Bowen, Jayden Jackson and Taylor Tatum have all played very well this season as true freshmen, but none of the young offensive linemen have shown promise, both young quarterbacks have struggled, and we’ve barely seen former five-star recruit PJ Adebawore make any kind of impact in his second season.
It’s also concerning that OU’s single game receiving yards leader is walk-on freshman Jacob Jordan, who received no stars out of high school and whose college offers included Arkansas-Monticello, a Division II program, Fordham and others.
On one hand, the Sooners should be thrilled that a potential new Drake Stoops is emerging, but it also begs the question of why the three and four-star recruits Emmett Jones has landed the past couple seasons are having a minimal impact on the offense.
Perhaps the lack of player development, along with questionable play calling, was a primary reason for Littrell’s firing.
What are they doing in practice, why are we declining, not improving?
Venables claims he’s seeing positives from the offense in practice, and even explosive plays, but it isn’t translating to Saturdays.
One of the reasons he gave for the lack of execution was young players playing too fast on gameday.
I’m not sure what is happening in practice, but the declining play is obviously concerning.
If Dillon Gabriel was shown respect instead of automatically passing the torch, this offense would be dramatically different
While I do believe Dillon Gabriel’s experience would help the Sooners, there are much bigger issues offensively.
There were a lot of questions about which quarterback to start for the last five games of the season. Truthfully, I don’t think it matters much. Quarterbacks can’t block for themselves. Until Oklahoma significantly improves its play calling, offensive line and gets at least a few of its receivers back from injuries, there won’t be much room to evaluate Michael Hawkins Jr. or Jackson Arnold.
Arnold and Hawkins are both talented quarterbacks. Each has shown promise, and each has shown the need for further development and help around them. If Oklahoma acquires better talent around them, and fixes its coaching issues, then I’m confident at least one of them will succeed.
For now, quarterback is not the Sooners’ primary issue.
QB development isn’t there
As part of the Littrell move, OU elevated offensive analyst Kevin Johns to co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Johns spent a combined five seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Duke and Memphis. I’m inclined to think that one of the reasons for his promotion is to have a heightened role in developing Hawkins and Arnold.
How can OU beat Maine? That’s the only possible win left
It sure seems like Maine is Oklahoma’s last chance at reaching five wins.
Now, if college football has shown anything this year it’s that the parity across the country is at a very high level, and anything can happen. Just ask Vanderbilt, who snapped a 23-game losing streak against Alabama earlier this year.
However, the offense would need to drastically turn things around, and they’ve shown no signs of doing so. At this point, the Sooners, 21-point underdogs against Mississippi this week, need a huge upset to qualify for a bowl game.
I also wouldn't sleep on the Bears just yet. They scored 35 points this weekend against Villanova. Oklahoma hasn’t done that since week one against Temple.
When does softball start? At this point, any other OU sport, except basketball, is more fun to watch
There were a few questions like this. There’s plenty of enticing storylines in the world of Oklahoma sports.
OU softball’s trek for a fifth consecutive title, OU women’s gymnastics’ revenge tour, and OU golf’s No. 1 overall ranking in the preseason coaches poll all make for an exciting spring in Norman.
I wouldn’t skip over basketball season either. Jennie Baranczyk and the OU women are ranked No. 10 in the preseason AP Poll. Almost all of the Sooners’ scoring production is returning, and the addition of former Oregon State standout forward Raegan Beers makes Oklahoma a serious contender.
As for the men’s side, it’s probably safe to skip over their season.
I miss playing in the Big 12
Fair. But just to be clear, the Sooners are not playing poorly because they’re in a tough conference, they’re just a bad football team.
The Big 12 wouldn’t help much. I’m not even sure if OU would finish as a top five team in that conference. There are only a few Power Four defenses in the country the Sooners could score 20 points on.
It’s the exact same concerts we had under Riley, we’re only great on one side of the ball
Riley has coached many elite offenses. Venables has coached many elite defenses. But neither one has gotten things right on the other side of the ball.
It makes me wonder what would happen if the two were to join forces.
Obviously, there’s an extremely slim chance of that happening. But it sure would make for an elite program.
