Joel Klatt: Oklahoma injuries are 'convenient excuse' for offensive struggles

The Oklahoma Sooners have been decimated with injuries on the offensive side of the football. Their receiving corps has been unbelievably thin for the past few weeks, and the OU offense has only put up 12 points total the past two weeks. FOX’s Joel Klatt recently said on his podcast the injuries are a ‘convenient excuse’ for the Sooners, when he decided to go in-depth on their issues.

“Let’s get to Oklahoma. Oklahoma, where are we at in the current state with Oklahoma. Well, Brent Venables, also in Year Three. Blown out in back-to-back games now against Texas in Red River and then South Carolina. They scored a total of one touchdown in those two games. And it’s their first year in the SEC that’s going horribly wrong. We all knew that their schedule was incredibly difficult. We talked about it at length on this show. But the offense has been a disaster,” Klatt explained.

“I told you that after the Tennessee game by the way. And I told you that it didn’t matter who was the quarterback. Everybody was making a big deal that Jackson Arnold played terrible against Tennessee. And oh man, can’t wait for Hawkins to get in there. And it’s gonna change. No, it’s not going to change. Why? The scheme was wrong. The offense was wrong. And now we have evidence of that because they fired their offensive coordinator Seth Littrell. Seven games in, Seth Littrell is out. Jackson Arnold is gonna be back in at quarterback. And this offense is 107th in scoring offense. They’re 116th in total yards,” Klatt continued.

“It’s not working. To be fair to Oklahoma, they have been decimated on the outside in particular, through injuries. You’ve been missing Andrel Anthony and Jalil Farooq. And Nic Anderson. And Jayden Gibson. All of that is true. Deion Burks might come back this week. But the other receivers don’t seem particularly close. Now, I do believe that that’s a convenient excuse because the film that I watched, the entire offensive system was wrong. I’m just telling you that honestly. We’re taking honestly pills here today,” Klatt continued.

“Alright, folks. When I watch that film against Tennessee and others, it’s just like, nope. This is not right. The offensive line is playing terrible football. And cannot run the ball. When they try to run the football, the scheme is wrong. They don’t target the right people on the offensive line. Their protection game plan is all off. They’re sliding to the wrong side. The eyes of the quarterback is not in the proper place in the passing game. The system is wrong,” Klatt explained.

“So, while I will give it to you Oklahoma fans that the injuries have certainly played a factor. The factor remains that the biggest choice that Brent Venables had to make was this firing of their offensive coordinator, Seth Littrell. It was not going well. It had to be a total overhaul. Coaches, players, or scheme. Well, in this part, it’s two, and then a bit of a third. The players because they’ve been injured. But then the coaching staff was wrong. And the scheme was wrong. And he had to adjust it. And he did. So, big credit to Coach Venables for identifying with clear eyes what was going on the offensive side. Injuries are always going to be a part of football. And I don’t think we can blame everything on the offensive side for Oklahoma just on injuries,” Klatt explained on his podcast.