During the 2024 season, the Oklahoma Sooners produced the worst offense the program had seen since 1998, the year before Bob Stoops became OU’s head coach. Under the co-offensive coordinator trio of Seth Littrell, Joe Jon Finley, and Kevin Johns, and with quarterbacks Jackson Arnold and Michael Hawkins Jr. both at the reins of the offense at different points of the season, the Sooners faltered to a 6-7 record.
Head coach Brent Venables knew that sweeping changes were needed, so he hired Ben Arbuckle from Washington State to be the new OC. Then, Arbuckle brought starting quarterback John Mateer with him, setting up a new brain trust offensively in Norman.
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However, rebuilding the offense was not a quick fix. Though they were markedly better in 2025, the OU offense still lagged far behind the team’s defense and special teams. The Sooners made the College Football Playoff with 10 wins, but they lost in the first round.
Now, both Arbuckle and Mateer are back for 2026, a feat that has been a rarity in the Venables era on offense. After taking a step forward in Year 1 under Arbuckle, the Oklahoma offense is expected to take a leap forward in Year 2.
Last week, Mateer joined SEC Network’s studio show and talked about the progression of the OU offense in Arbuckle’s second season at the controls. He believes things are much more in sync now than they were last spring.
“I think the second year in the offense as a team is huge,” Mateer said. “The second year, the progression that you can make for me with these guys and having the chemistry, and them knowing the offense and what we’re looking for is huge. We’ve seen that in spring ball, we just play better together and when we’re seeing the nuances of the offense.”
Arbuckle’s Air Raid system is a scheme that Mateer knows very well by now, as he’s been coached by Arbuckle since 2023. However, the offense is very different from the Veer-and-Shoot attack that the Sooners employed under Jeff Lebby, or the hybrid spread attack that ultimately fell way short in ’24. Mateer spent much of last spring teaching his new teammates the basics of the offense, and now he feels that he doesn’t have to do that anymore.
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“It’s the same role, but it’s just the next level of the offense,” Mateer said. “I don’t have to teach them what a signal means, they know what the signal means, so now it’s, ‘What are we looking for on that play, against this coverage, on this down and distance?’ So it’s more specifics, which is great, and we can really talk ball, and then when we see that situation again. we’re on the same page.”
Additionally, Arbuckle and Mateer both experienced a jump up in competition while competing in the SEC last season. Sooner Nation hopes that both are better for having seen what America’s toughest conference is like to play in, and that the growing pains they both experienced will benefit Oklahoma this fall. Those lessons, along with another year in the offense, should help the Sooner be more effective on offense in 2026
On the defensive side of the ball, once OU’s biggest weakness, the Sooners gave up just 15.5 points per game last season, good for seventh-best in the nation. That means that if Oklahoma can continue to rebuild the offense and progress in Arbuckle’s second year calling the shots, they won’t always need to light the world on fire offensively, especially with the way the defense has grown under Venables’ leadership. If the Sooners can become a more consistent and more dangerous offense in 2026, Oklahoma’s ceiling next year might be much higher than it was last season.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: OU is looking to move up a level on offense this year
