COLUMN : Against Tennessee, Oklahoma's Offense Faces a New and Very Real Urgency

The Sooners have struggled to sustain offensive possessions, and they've not delivered many big plays in the run game or the pass game. That needs to change against the Vols.

Oklahoma offensive coordinator Seth Littrell talks with quarterback Jackson Arnold. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NORMAN — Oklahoma coach Brent Venables had an existential revelation during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

“If I could be reborn again,” Venables said, “I would 100 percent come back as an offensive coach. Respectfully.”

The very next question in his 45-minute Q&A session, however, might have made him reconsider that — even if only briefly.

For it’s the OU offense that has struggled the most in 2024, the OU offense that can’t get out of its own way, the OU offense that can’t get out of the training room, the OU offense that can’t stay on the field or deliver big plays.

Venables on Tuesday painted a picture that this week’s opponent, No. 6-ranked Tennessee, brings in both a big-play defense and a dynamic offense. 

So as Oklahoma enters Southeastern Conference play for the very first time, it can’t continue to rest upon the Oklahoma defense to make stop after stop and keep the Vols off the scoreboard and generate takeaways.

It’s time for the Sooner offense to … y’know, do something.

It’s certainly more urgent this week than it was against the likes of Temple, Houston or Tulane.

“I don't know what the level would be,” Venables said, “but we've been talking about that since back in early spring. The ability to create explosive plays is, you know, it's got to be one of the most important things that you do from an offensive standpoint, to put pressure and stress on the defense. You have to be able to attack them vertically.”

Oklahoma’s offense averages just 4.86 yards per play. Only 17 FBS teams rank lower this season. OU’s two longest plays in 2024 — one Jalil Farooq reception and one Jackson Arnold run — both covered just 47 yards and didn’t reach the end zone.

The Sooners’ lowest average per snap over the last 25 years was 4.9 in both 2001 and 2005. If this year’s average holds up, it would be OU’s lowest since — you guessed it — 1998.

Since 2011, Oklahoma averaged less than 6.3 yards per play only once (5.8 in 2013). After Lincoln Riley replaced Josh Heupel in 2015, OU regularly averaged 6.8 and 8.6 yards per play. Even in two years under frequent fan scapegoat Jeff Lebby, the Sooners averaged 6.2 and 6.8 yards per play.

When the Vols step onto Owen Field on Saturday night, something has to change. Either the Sooners must break off some long plays, or they have to sustain offensive possessions. 

That part has been a challenge, too, as OU’s offense has had only nine drives — again, versus Temple, Houston and Tulane — that lasted eight plays or more. Only five of those took double-digit snaps, and of those five possessions, the Sooner offense produced one touchdown, two field goals and two punts.

“Play designs (are) a part of that,” Venables said. “Players are a part of that, because you got to make plays. There's presentations to create those things, but that can also add to that. … “You put it all together and that’s all really important.”

If Oklahoma can’t strike from deep, and if Seth Littrell’s unit can’t sustain long drives, that will continue to put undue strain on an Oklahoma defense that has been good so far, but is also still striving to be elite. Complementary football, coaches call it, and so far, OU hasn’t played it.

The run game has limped throughout the first three games. Oklahoma ranks 67th in the nation at 159.0 yards per game, and just 4.34 yards per rush.

Arnold leads the team with 159 net rushing yards. Junior Jovantae Barnes has totaled just 126, freshman Tatum Taylor has 102, FCS transfer Sam Franklin has 45, and junior Gavin Sawchuk — last year’s leading rusher with 744 yards and five straight 100-yard games to end the season — has 35 yards and is averaging just 2.2 yards per carry.

“We got to make people miss on that third level,” Venables said. “That's what good players do. You got to make plays. And we’ve got good players, and sometimes they (the defense) make a good play too. So I think you would be negligent to discount the defense making a good play in space, but the ability to make people miss, run through trash, make something happen (has been missing).” 

Somehow, the pass game has been even worse, producing the kind of numbers you might have seen in a Big Ten Conference game — in 1975. In December.

As a team, Oklahoma is averaging just 8.75 yards per completion. Only Rice (7.92), Ball State (8.07), Florida Atlantic (8.35) and Florida International (8.43) have been worse than OU (and that group’s aggregate record this season is 4-7).

“If you can't create explosive plays, you're allowing the defense to just keep creeping closer and closer and closer and making everything harder,” Venables said. “So we got to be able to establish the run with a more explosive, persistent mindset to create opportunities in the passing game. And the more successful you are in running, it's going to make things a little easier in the pass game.” 

In addition to the passing game missing its four leading returning receivers from last year due to injury (Jayden Gibson, Nic Anderson, Andrel Anthony and Farooq) and breaking in a new quarterback (Dillon Gabriel went to Oregon and handed the keys to Arnold), the offensive line has also struggled to replace all five starters from 2023, with transfer portal additions and first-year starters trying to find the right combination and chemistry.

“We haven't had much margin for error,” Venables said. “Everything seems to be a little bit harder than you want it to be, and there's issues everywhere.” 

“It starts with us as coaches. That's where it all begins,” Venables said. “You know, helping them be successful, both in protections and play calls and in regards to the route combinations and certainly in the run game. 

“ … You know that challenge is real, and so we got to continue to work hard, diligently, both in our staff room and (at practice) — you got to look at everything, and that's our responsibility. That’s my responsibility: look at everything, question everything, make sure everybody's on the same page, and at the same time you let people do a job that you hired them to do. And we're working hard to do that.”

Defensive coaches, Venables said, “literally, we live and die in that world” of being under the constant strain of perfection. On offense, one player out of position or doing the wrong assignment can still frequently result in a first down or even a touchdown. But on defense, one player stepping wrong or reading the wrong thing can put six points on the scoreboard with a lethal suddenness.

“Every once a while, I'll get out of there and I'll go in the offensive room so I don't have to live there anymore,” Venables said. “That's very peaceful to live in that space.”

This week, though, he gets to live it in the offensive room as well, as the Vols are No. 3 in the nation in scoring defense and No. 2 nationally in total defense.

“Everybody talks about the offense, and justifiably so,” Venables said, “but the defense is playing every bit (as well) — has not given up a touchdown in 16 quarters.”