We’ve been saying forever something unseen must be at hand.
Something unseen being … well, the truth is, we don’t really know.
For instance, we don’t know if offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh, 54, on staff for 14 seasons, has any respect for offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, 31, and because their relationship is strained, communication’s broken down, the two don’t talk and no trust exists, that’s why not only was the offensive line broken in 2024, but last season and this one, too.
Just as we have no idea if Arbuckle and wide receiver coach Emmett Jones, 51, have a strong working relationship and if they don’t perhaps that’s why Jones wouldn’t budge when Arbuckle demanded Manny Choice be put on the field more often, you know, if any of that happened at all.
Nope, we know nothing of the sort.
All we know is Oklahoma looks, plays and talks about itself as though great dysfunction is at hand, and if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, well, you know.
Perhaps those scenarios sound far-fetched, but are they?
Choice owned spring drills, made more plays than everybody else, but didn’t catch his first pass until the fourth quarter at Georgia. Then, given full opportunity against Kentucky, he caught five balls for 98 yards.
As for Bedenbaugh and Arbuckle, is there a better explanation for Ryan Fodje’s remaining on the field for multiple series against the Wildcats when he couldn’t walk — COULDN’T EVEN STAND ON TWO FEET IN THE HUDDLE WITHOUT TEAMMATES’ HELP — on his right ankle and leg?
Given a functional football team and staff, Fodje would not have returned at all, and if allowed to because he wanted to, it would have lasted only one or two snaps rather than wasting multiple series trailing 14-13 in the fourth quarter. And if the assistants can’t get it right, that’s when the head coach steps in and demands somebody else fill the void, even if it’s a tight end or a defensive lineman who played both ways in high school.
In fact, just as the Eagles should be investigated for their guidance given Jalen Hurts in and on the way home from London, how a peg-legged Fodje returned as long as he returned against Kentucky should be looked into, too, because it was coaching malpractice of the highest order.
But these are the kinds of things that happen at OU now, where head coach Brent Venables has built an amazing defense (that he coordinates himself) that’s being wasted by a horrendous offense now and the previous two seasons, too.
Despite his program’s constant shortcomings, Venables still gets credit for culture, relationships and all the other intangibles. But if he still gets that, it’s long past time to agree he’s failed in all the other aspects, almost all of them coming down to awareness and judgment.
Let us count the ways.
The offensive line, even more than quarterback John Mateer’s turnover-prone ways, is yet again the squad’s biggest disappointment, as it was last season and the year before that. Forever, Bedenbaugh’s been its coach.
On Oct. 6, Venables admitted the unit’s been harpooned by poor leadership: too many leaving, not enough quality coming back; lack of development all the way around; poor decision-making.
Yet Bedenbaugh remains.
At the end of the season, one of three things may happen.
One, the entire offensive staff will be jettisoned and the entire unit will start over and we’ll be told the new coordinator will finally have the autonomy to make his own decisions, hiring decisions included; two, Arbuckle will remain and everybody else will go and we’ll be told Arbuckle finally has the autonomy he’s never had; three, there will be changes but none so clean as options one and two and Sooner Nation will be outraged but it won’t matter because Venables’ buyout can’t be afforded for another year, two or three.
But even should he choose door No. 1 or 2, why would anybody believe he’d get it right given his track record of coordinator hires (on both sides of the ball) and even if he got the hires right, why would anybody believe he wouldn’t screw it up given his history with offense and, frankly, given what happened to Fodje, when some combination of Bedenbaugh, Arbuckle and Venables failed to protect their player and give their team the best chance to win all at the same time.
Way back in 2009, not only was tight end Jermaine Gresham lost in the preseason and Heisman winner Sam Bradford knocked out in the opener, but the line was in shambles, too. To shore things up, fullback Brody Eldridge moved to the line, as did tight end Eric Mensik, while Brian Lepak, a walk-on, joined the rotation.
Because Bob Stoops’ Sooners had imagination, things turned out well enough.
Right now, under Venables? No imagination, no well enough.
It was also his decision to go with Jackson Arnold rather than make keeping Dillon Gabriel a priority.
Still, the powers that be awarded him a fat new contract with an equally fat new buyout — THAT WASN’T FINALLY SIGNED, GET THIS, UNTIL A WEEK AGO — even when he had and has no place else to go.
What Venables either doesn’t understand, or just does a lousy job with, is the man responsible, ultimately, for the offensive line, is not the line coach, but himself. What he also doesn’t understand, or just does a lousy job with, is communication between coaches, even offensive coaches, is ultimately about him and not them.
What he also doesn’t understand, or just does a lousy job with, is play calls like the fake field goal dialed up against Kentucky can’t happen when the offense direly needs the validation points produce; or that a double-reverse flea-flicker taking two hours to develop is a horrible idea, too.
What he also doesn’t understand, or just does a lousy job with, is the Sooners’ carousel of running backs, none given the chance to be a No. 1 at the spot, even after Lloyd Avant turned 10 carries into 72 yards against Texas, is not on the offensive coaches, who’ve been allowed or encouraged to keep the carousel going, but on him.
It goes on and on.
Though we may not know what’s going on behind closed doors, the dysfunction we’ve long presumed finally spilled onto the field with every fourth-quarter snap Fodje took against the Wildcats. And with it, it’s easy to look backward and realize the terrible judgment and lack of awareness are not bugs but features of Venables’ reign.
And those who could end that reign are invested in its failure instead.
It’s not good.
It’s not changing.