Brent Venables admits Oklahoma's struggles on offense are 'incredibly concerning'

Now halfway through the 2024 season, Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables knows his team is struggling on offense and that the Sooners need to turn things around quickly.

When Venables was asked about the offense and if he was concerned about the team’s struggles, he admitted that it was incredibly concerning.

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“Well, certainly,” Brent Venables said. “Your perspective is you’ve got a brand new quarterback in there too who just started his second game and his first action was against the number six team in the country. His second start was against the number one team in the country. So, you’ve got to have perspective on all of it and not be quick to judge and have the eye for what it is.”

After Dillon Gabriel led the Oklahoma offense for two seasons, he transferred out of the program and was replaced by Jackson Arnold. However, Arnold was benched in the Tennessee game for freshman Michael Hawkins. Amid those changes, the position has remained an issue.

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“Again, as I go back, were there opportunities there? Are guys wide open? Yeah,” Venables said. “Several times wide open. Is the protection there when they’re wide open? Yep, it sure was. Do we gotta pull the trigger? Yeah, we do. Do we gotta get better with our route detail? We do.”

Since the start of SEC play this season, Oklahoma has struggled offensively. In three conference games, the Sooners are averaging just 15 points per game. They’re also coming off a three-point performance in Red River. Including non-conference play, Oklahoma is averaging 24.3 points per game. That’s 15th in the SEC in scoring offense.

This season, along with the changes at quarterback, Oklahoma also has a new offensive coordinator with Seth Littrell taking over for Jeff Lebby.

“There’s a coaching piece to that. What you put on the field is a reflection of what you’re coached. Then, at the same time,” Venables said. “We’ve got to take what we practice, what we did right in practice, and we’ve got to take it to gameday. We can’t lose our minds. Too often that happens as well, and all of it matters when you’re talking about being efficient, creating explosive plays, things of that nature, getting everybody on the same page. It’s incredibly concerning and disappointing and frustrating. All of it, and I do know as a coach there’s a fine line between being successful and not being successful on any particular give play and a lot of moving parts that go into that.”

Next up for Oklahoma is a home game against the South Carolina Gamecocks. With that, the Sooners will have an opportunity to begin turning things around on offense and finding more success.

“But, at the end of the day, you either are or you aren’t and we haven’t been enough,” Venables concluded. “That’s incredibly frustrating to say the least.”