Ben Arbuckle Fired by Oklahoma, and Florida Is the Next Team That Has to Face the Sooners' New Play-Caller
Oklahoma fired offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle on Monday, two days after a 42-25 home loss to South Carolina, and named tight ends coach Jason Witten its interim play-caller. The Sooners' next game is Saturday at No. 25 Florida - which makes a trending coaching story a Gators scouting story.
The search term is “ben arbuckle,” and the news inside it is a firing: Oklahoma dismissed offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle on Monday, November 2, after the Sooners' 42-25 home loss to South Carolina on October 31, USA Today and the Associated Press reported in files read by the Sports Desk this run. Oklahoma is 4-4, and the offense Arbuckle ran ranks 108th nationally in scoring at 22.0 points per game and 111th in total offense at 336.9 yards per game.
The interim answer is a famous name in a new chair: tight ends coach Jason Witten - the former Dallas Cowboys tight end - takes over as interim offensive coordinator and play-caller, the reports said. A mid-season coordinator change is a new playbook installed in days, and every tendency Oklahoma has shown on film this season is now a weaker guide than it was on Sunday.
Florida is why this story runs in Jacksonville. The Sooners' next game is Saturday at No. 25 Florida (5-3), TheScore's AP file noted - which means the Gators' defensive staff is the first in the country that has to prepare for Witten's version of the Oklahoma offense, with no game film of it in existence.
The desk makes no prediction about Saturday. What is verified is the change, the numbers that caused it, the interim appointment and the fixture: a trending national coaching story whose next chapter is played against a Florida team.
