Let’s begin by getting the cast of characters straight.
Brent Venables is the head coach, of course, Ben Arbuckle, all 30 years of him, is Oklahoma’s second-year offensive coordinator and then there’s this guy named Kevin Wilson, who you may be hearing about a lot, but not quite know why.
Previously a Sooner offensive analyst since leaving behind the head coach’s title at Tulsa, Wilson is no longer an analyst but a real life Sooner assistant coach and wait until you hear his title:
Assistant head coach for offense.
We mentioned Wilson as analyst and Golden Hurricane skipper, but there’s more in his past than that.
He became OU’s offensive coordinator in time for the 2005 Holiday Bowl following previous offensive coordinator Chuck Long accepting the head coaching job at San Diego State and leaving the Sooners to get a head start with the Aztecs.
It didn’t work out for Long, who won nine games in three seasons and was gone.
But it worked out swimmingly for Wilson, whose Sooner teams averaged 368.7 yards of total offense in 2006, 448.9 in 2007, 547.9 in 2008, 423.8 in 2009 and 481.4 in 2010, after which he became head coach at Indiana (after which he became offensive coordinator at Ohio State).
Incidentally, the quarterbacks for those Sooner teams, in order, were Paul Thompson, a freshman Sam Bradford, a Heisman winning sophomore Sam Bradford, a freshman Landry Jones and a sophomore Landry Jones.
It should be noted, Jones was a far better quarterback under Wilson than under his offensive coordinator successor, guy by the name of Josh Heupel
OU averaged 354.3 yards from scrimmage last season, failing to hit 400 even once against conference foes.
So, Wilson has this title that would have you believe it’s Arbuckle’s job to listen when he speaks. Line coach Bill Bedenbaugh might want to, too, Wilson being an old line coach before Bob Stoops put him in charge of the whole offense.
As it happened, when Arbuckle took his weekly turn at the mic on Monday, he appeared to channel Wilson when speaking about the offense becoming more “versatile.”
“Specifically, you know, whenever you think abut the tight end room and some of those bodies we’ve brought in at receiver and how some of our running backs have come along, I absolutely believe that gives us the ability to go out there and do a few different things,” he said. “You know, just finding ays to take advantage of the space, the numbers on the field, while ultimately getting those guys in a situation on the field to go be successful with operational space. I think that’s what it all comes down to.”
For those who don’t remember, that was Wilson’s whole thing.
He sought matchups, he sought space, he sought spreading the wealth. He loved taking all the information an opposing defense gave him and using it to find vulnerabilities to attack. Any play could be called at any time because his brain absorbed every possibility in real time.
Probably, Arbuckle won’t do that. His brain doesn’t work as fast. He’s not Wilson.
Nonetheless, he appears to have embraced Wilson’s ways and what that might lead to against UTEP tonight, eight days later at Michigan and beyond ought to be very, very interesting.
What might it look like tonight against the Miners?
In almost a throwaway line, Venables told everybody what he wanted to see during his pregame presser.
“If you say, ‘‘Hey, what’s winning look like?’” he said. “You stop the run, you run the football and you create explosive plays and you win the turnover margin.”
Earlier in his remarks, Venables said, “We need to be a more explosive offense, I think that goes without saying.”
So, pretty clear.
Can the Sooners run the ball, can they create explosive plays, can they do both on the ground and through the air?
Also, their quarterback must play responsibly and well, because it needs to be a strong warmup before facing the challenge of the Wolverines, and a habit by the time conference plays rolls around two weeks later at Georgia.
Begin with Mateer.
People forget he wasn’t all that great a year ago even when mentioned in Heisman conversations, even before the thumb injury. Prior to meeting Auburn in Week 4, the game the thumb was hurt, Mateer had still thrown just five touchdown passes against three interceptions and only against FCS Illinois State had he tossed for 300 yards.
The best thing he did before injuring the thumb was run 19 times for 71 yards and two touchdowns against Michigan.
Now, he must be better.
You’d like to see his completion percentage rise from 62.2 percent to 70 percent. You’d like to see him throw fewer interceptions after tossing 11 last season. But what Sooner Nation is really starved for is watching him throw accurately deep.
A long time ago, Bob Stoops said his preference as a defensive coordinator was for the offense to score as fast as it possibly could, after which the defense would be ready to return. I don’t know if Venables has reached that point, but he’s finally asking for a high-powered offense, so Arbuckle better not be timid and Mateer better perform.
Next, despite some injuries that should have Caleb Nitta, OU’s third choice, starting at center, the Sooners should be able to run the ball this evening and beyond, even if the truth is they ought to still do more than that.
The last big-time runner to wear the crimson and cream was Kennedy Brooks and before him Rhamondre Stevenson. OU’s had nothing close to those guys since. But the line is older and ought to be better, maybe even a real strength and, finally free of DeMarco Murray’s depth chart decisions, Xavier Robinson’s in a position to succeed, as is first-team partner Lloyd Avant, a Colorado transfer. Also tonight, we ought to see Tory Blaylock and Jonathan Hatton, too.
Just maybe one of them (or more) will really shine.
And you know what, all of them should have a chance now that Arbuckle’s sounding a lot like Wilson, whose running game was never dull and never not multiple.
His influence could make that much difference.
That’s kind of it.
Mateer can’t be the old Mateer and expect to elevate his team the way it needs to be elevated. Arbuckle must grow in his OC role under Wilson’s mentoring. A year ago, whether he was told to or not, Arbuckle quit trying to put a great offense on the field and went into don’t-lose-the-game-mode instead.
You have to like the receivers, led by Isaiah Sategna, and maybe the tight ends, led by new position coach and NFL stud Jason Witten, but they can’t do anything without Arbuckle’s schemes and Mateer’s accurate throws.
The coordinator and quarterback, that’s where it begins for the Sooner offense.
Starting tonight, they can show it.