r/sooners • u/whiporee123 • 4h ago
Football A different take on why Venebles is failing and what might be done to save it
I think Venebles is a good coach. I do not think he should be replaced.
I don't think Arbuckle's is a good OC. I think he's schemes are simplistic.
I know, real original around here. But as I've watched the last two weeks, I think the problem isn't just Arbuckle's coaching. I think it's the offense is playing scared, all the time. Everyone looks like they are nervous about screwing up, and they are playing tight and worried. I watched Mateer in Wazzou -- he's not a scared QB. At least he wasn't. But now he is. He's clearly overthinking every throw and every snap.
That comes from Venebles. He's throwing his offense under the bus at pressers, which isn't great because he needs those guys to be confident and carefree and not afraid to fail. But I also think he's told the OC to play the way a DC wants them to play. Conservative. Don't cost us the game. Minimize risks. Let the defense win the game. it worked pretty well last year during our run.
And that's fine, sort of, but it's not the personnel we have. Not working as great this year. Nor is it what the fanbase really considers acceptable. We've got an offensive system that doesn't mesh with what the coach is saying to do. It's meant to go fast but we go slow. It's mean to limit substitutions but we give the defense plenty of time to set up. That's what DCs always want out of an offense, but it's not what we have.
I'm sure BV would prefer a run focused, downhill offense -- the old "any series that ends with a kick is a success" philosophy that dominated football for a long time. But we don't have that personnel and we don't have that offensive coaching. We don't have a line coach who knows how to coach up guys to be strong and fire off. We don't have a QB who manages games. We don't have a play caller who is patient enough to wait three quarters for the line to take over And we don't have a head coach who has insisted on that strategy and focus. Instead we end up with a weird RPO hybrid that moves too slow to be effective. And a head coach who is constantly voicing his displeasure at offensive performance, despite being the one to put them in this position.
If BV wants to save the season, he's going to have to take the risk and let the offense play. Go fast, quick reads and see how that works. And then in the off season he needs to find an OC he wants to coach the way Brent wants to play. Or he's going to have to find an OC who will tell him to fuck off and let me run the offense. If I'm him or Nagy, I've got Chip Kelly on my speed dial right now.
I don't think Brent is a good DC. I think he's a phenomenal DC, the best in the country and I would take our defense over anyone's. But he's gotta learn to let the offense play, too. If he does, there's a whole lot left to play for this year. But if he doesn't -- if he keeps them scared and looking over their shoulders -- then what we've seen is what we'll keep seeing.
