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Brent Venables Says Everything Is on the Table After Firing Ben Arbuckle
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- Brent Venables Says Everything Is on the Table After Firing Ben Arbuckle
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Oklahoma coach Brent Venables fired second-year offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle on Monday and made Jason Witten the interim play caller, per ESPN.
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Asked whether John Mateer remains the starting quarterback, Venables said everything is on the table before Saturday's game at Florida.
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The Sooners are 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the SEC, a year after reaching the College Football Playoff.
Venables Wants Points Any Way the Sooners Can Find Them
"Put incredible pressure on the defense and take care of the football," Venables said Tuesday, a day after making the move. "Score however you need to score, throwing it, running it, all of it. That's literally what we want."
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He spoke at his weekly availability with Oklahoma 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the Southeastern Conference, one year after the Sooners made the College Football Playoff. Reporters wanted to know whether fifth-year senior transfer John Mateer stays at quarterback and what changes with Witten calling plays. Venables answered that everything is on the table and that everybody has a fresh slate.
What Venables Said About the Quarterbacks
Mateer, junior Whitt Newbauer and freshman Bowe Bentley have all taken practice reps this week. Mateer arrived from Washington State before last season with Arbuckle.
Venables offered his own diagnosis of the season. "Obviously, we didn't make the improvement," he said. "We played inconsistently. We lead the world in the turnover margin. We're on the wrong side of it. We've got to have better, more consistent quarterback play."
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Venables chose not to go further on Arbuckle's departure or on Mateer's status. Quarterback jobs are under scrutiny elsewhere in the SEC too, where Nick Saban said the bench can motivate Texas quarterback Arch Manning.
"We want to win … and that takes everybody," he said. "That expectation hasn't changed whatsoever and we want to win this week and we want to win the next week and the week after and so forth."
The Numbers Before the Change
Oklahoma fired Arbuckle after a 42-25 home loss to South Carolina in which the Sooners gathered only 118 total yards and no offensive touchdowns through three quarters. Mateer then threw two touchdown passes.
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The season totals tell the same story. Oklahoma ranks 111th of 138 FBS teams at 336.9 total yards per game and 108th at 22.0 points per game. Last year's 10-win team produced 354.3 yards and 26.2 points. In 2024, Washington State ranked sixth nationally at 36.6 points per game and gained 442.8 yards per game with Arbuckle and Mateer, before the pair moved to Norman.
"My focus with you all today is really about what we've got to do this week to win and what that looks like here over the next four weeks," Venables said. "Incredibly important that we get someone to come in here and help us score touchdowns."
Who Jason Witten Is as a Play Caller
Witten joined the staff in January as tight ends coach. Before that he went 44-7 with two state championships over five seasons as head coach at Liberty Christian, a private school in Argyle, Texas. He moved into coaching after his final NFL season in 2020, having played 17 seasons, all but one with the Dallas Cowboys, and earned 11 Pro Bowl selections and four All-Pro selections. The Texas Sports Hall of Fame inducted him in 2019.
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Across 2023 and 2024, the Warriors went a combined 26-1 and averaged 50.9 points per game. Liberty Christian plays in TAPPS, the private school version of Texas high school football, and in Witten's final season the Warriors went 1-2 against public school competition. His son Cooper, a five-star linebacker in the Class of 2027, plays at Liberty Christian and is committed to Oklahoma.
Venables put his trust in Witten plainly. "He's got an incredible wealth of knowledge and his communication skills are elite," he said. "He's built trust and real relationships with our entire staff but also the players, which is important. They're going to follow people that they believe in. He makes people better with his passion, his energy, his details, his readiness, his toughness, all of those things. He's elevated several parts of our program in a very short amount of time."
The Four Games That Follow
Oklahoma travels to Florida (5-3) on Saturday, then closes the season against Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Missouri. Three of the remaining matchups come against AP Top 25 competition. LSU and Alabama also meet on Saturday, and Lane Kiffin joked about the 2:30 kickoff the SEC gave them.
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Nebraska coach Matt Rhule vowed he will not quit after his own team's third straight loss. At Oklahoma, the first answer arrives Saturday: who starts at quarterback, and what Witten calls.
Venables set the standard on Tuesday: score, and protect the football. The next four weeks will show whether a new voice on the headset changes anything.
