After Oklahoma’s loss to Michigan, it is evident that there are still a lot of problems on the offensive side of the ball for OU.
Throughout the offseason and into Week 1, we saw a transformed offense from the previous year. Talent added in all position groups, highlighted by a new tight end room, seemed to point toward fixing the problem of the run game. And since it seemed it had been markedly improved upon, this should have led to more production from the OU offense.
Despite this, Ben Arbuckle and his offensive staff drew up a plan for Michigan that specifically went away from running the ball. The Oklahoma running back room had 13 total touches, while quarterback John Mateer had 33 pass attempts. That number is actually closer to 40 when factoring in scrambles, which resulted in 13 carries for the QB.
Oklahoma’s passing attack, while being the focal point of the offense on Saturday, was dreadful. Mateer went 17-for-33 and posted 189 yards through the air, resulting in the offense putting up only 10 total points. It was not good enough.
Brent Venables, general manager Jim Nagy and this Oklahoma staff pursued talent and coaches heavily in the offseason to fix what was broken: the run game. Now that it’s fixed, Arbuckle continued to underutilize it. There is no doubt that Arbuckle thought this would give OU the best chance at success against Michigan, but ultimately, it resulted in the Sooners' downfall.
Ben Arbuckle needs an offense that highlights John Mateer's strengths, not his flaws
The offense that was on display for OU against Michigan was an attempt at a type of Air Raid offense, but that’s all it was: an attempt. Mateer’s strengths do not lend themselves to running that kind of offense, and in this game, it was evident.
Air Raid quarterbacks have to have quick decision-making and a high level of throwing accuracy. To all who have watched Mateer, neither of those are his strengths. For the past two seasons, it is evident he has struggled with RPOs and quickly working through his progressions of the receivers' routes.
Mateer’s strengths lie in his ability to create, run the ball and deliver a very quick release. Rather than calling plays that lend themselves to those strengths, Arbuckle seemed set on running a scheme that had Mateer attempting to throw the ball around the field and cut through the Michigan secondary as if he were Sam Bradford, commanding the field from a near-impenetrable pocket.
The Oklahoma offense has elite athletes across the board, but its strengths are being negated by the types of plays and formations being run.
This is a fixable problem, but only if Arbuckle and the offensive staff have the wherewithal to adapt. We saw a completely different scheme in Week 1 and from the reports during all of fall camp. There are quarterbacks out there who thrive in the type of offense OU ran against Michigan, but it is evident Mateer is not one of them. If this offense is to have any hope of success for the rest of the season, the scheme has to change, and it has to change now.
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