The first shoe has dropped in firing of OC Seth Littrell

Moments after Oklahoma's 35-9 loss to South Carolina on Saturday, head coach Brent Venables told reporters he did not want to discuss a midseason evaluation of offensive coordinator Seth Littrell. Earlier in the week, the OU head coach said he did not believe in midseason coaching changes.

On Sunday evening, a little more than 24 hours after the Sooners had once again this season shown little life on offense, the elephant in the room became too difficult to dismiss, and Venables announced that Littrell, a former Sooner player and OU alum, had been relieved of his duties and dismissed from the staff.

Few believed that Littrell would survive his job after the season, given how dramatically bad the Oklahoma offense has been this season, but it appeared that Oklahoma was prepared to ride out the rest of the season before making any changes.

No one ever questioned Littrell's loyalty to the university or his past accomplishments both as a head coach and assistant coach, but the brutal fact was he wasn't getting the job done in calling plays and leading the Oklahoma offense, an offense that historically has wielded high numbers on the scoreboard and in yards gained.

The Sooners are just 1-3 in their inaugural SEC season and don't show any signs of getting better on offense anytime soon, and with the most difficult stretch of the season straight ahead, the immediate fix in an attempt to stop the hemorraging led straight to Littrell.

Venables announced that co-offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley will take over the interim playcalling duties and that analyst Kevin Johns will be elevated to quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator.

Injuries to key offensive personnel has certainly been a big problem in getting the offense on track but that doesn't explain the offense's inability to advance the ball with any consistency, make necessary in-game adjustments or find ways to get the ball in the end zone. The Sooners have not been able to run the ball effectively or throw the ball, and as a consequence, the once explosive Oklahoma offensive machine has been spinning its wheels endlessly in the mud.

An all-new offensive line, which has battled its share of injuries this season forcing a new combination of starters virtually every game, is another contributing factor to the offensive issues. Unfortunately, you can't turnover a roster in the middle of a season. You have to go with the players you have available.

The embarrassing home loss to South Carolina was the last straw. Littrell becomes the scapegoat, and while his removal will take some of the immediate pressure off of Venables and the football program, it serves only as an interim solution and is not the ultimate fix to the Sooners' offensive struggles.

Finley, himself a former OU player, is clearly very familiar with the offense having worked with both Littrell and former Oklahoma OC Jeff Lebby, who was in the position for two seasons under Venables before becoming head coach at Mississippi State this season. I'm just not sure how much experience he has calling plays at the collegiate level. Johns, on the other hand, has plenty of experience in that role in previous coaching stops at Indiana, Memphis and Duke before joining the staff at Oklahoma.

A coaching search to bring in a new offensive coordinator will begin in earnest after the season, but until then the Sooners have five more games remaining in the regular season and four of those are against teams currently ranked in both the Associated Press and Coaches Poll Top 25.

Can we expect better offensive performance and output in the tough weeks ahead. Yes, we probably can expect some improvement relative to what it has been, but will it be enough to win any of the remaining games against tough SEC opponents? Sadly, other than the nonconference contest with Maine on Nov. 2, I wouldn't get any immediate hopes up.

As Jenni Carlson pointed out in an informative and insightful article in Monday's editions of The Oklahoman, "The Sooners can be and should be better than they have been these past few weeks. Still, they won't transform into some offensive juggernaut. The current personnel limits what can be done. Baby steps are possible. Big strides are not."

Now the onus and mounting heat falls squarely on Brent Venables to right the sinking Sooner ship. It's probably not going to happen to the satisfaction of Sooner fans this season, but the clock is clearly ticking on Venables coaching future at OU.

The third-year head coach is in serious danger of delivering his second sub-.500 team in three seasons. That would place Venables on a very undistinguished list among Sooner head coaches. Only two Oklahoma head coaches since 1966 -- Howard Schnellenberger (1995) and John Blake (1996-98) -- have had a record of .500 or worse in a season.

Changes are clearly necessary. Consider this step one.