Sooners fans were left scratching their heads after some of the decision-making from offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle on Saturday. 

After a terrible year in 2024 with Seth Littrell and Joe Jon Finley calling plays, Arbuckle was seen as the savior of the offense, bringing with him quarterback John Mateer from Washington State. However, after losing two of their last three games, that excitement has worn off.

All season long, Oklahoma has struggled to run the football with their running backs. While much has been made about the personnel at the position not doing their job, there was key evidence suggesting on Saturday that the issues in the run game actually comes from the Sooners’ signal-caller in Arbuckle, not the players themselves.

It is no secret that Oklahoma has been known to struggle to block on the edge, with starting two freshman offensive tackles, along with their tight ends. However, that did not stop Arbuckle from running his traditional outside zone rushing attack.

The best example can be found from the second quarter when Arbuckle called an outside zone run play for Tory Blaylock from their own three-yard line. Tight end Kaden Helms failed to hold-off the defenders, leading to a safety and tackle for loss.

The Sooners ended the day with 136 rushing yards, after being held to just 12 in the first half, but the numbers don’t tell the whole story. 65 of those rushing yards came from between the tackles, off of a touchdown run from Xavier Robinson in the third quarter.

Mateer has been Oklahoma’s second-leading rusher this season, with 226 yards off of 78 carries. While Mateer has shown flashes with his legs throughout the year, Arbuckle has been known to overwork him in the run game. 

Instead of running the ball with the tailbacks between the tackles, Arbuckle tends to overuse the outside zone game with the running backs or force feed Mateer with the quarterback power runs. Neither has seen much success, and Saturday was another example of Arbuckle’s quarterback run game not working.

Mateer had the most rushing attempts of any Oklahoma player with 13. However, he was held in check with just 17 yards on the ground for an average of 1.3 yards per attempt. Someone should let Arbuckle know that Mateer plays quarterback, not fullback.

In four SEC games, Arbuckle’s offense is averaging just 20.5 points per game, as the Sooners have a 2-2 record in league play.

It was just a few weeks ago that Arbuckle was thought to be a rising star, and could already be a top head coaching candidate for power four conference jobs like Oklahoma State. Instead, the 30 year old clearly has work to do to evolve his offense, and take things to the next level. The talent is there. The scheme is the problem.