Oklahoma
Joel Klatt on Oklahoma's problems on offense: 'It's not a quarterback issue'
Oklahoma is reshuffling their entire offense after what happened last weekend against Tennessee. That won’t be fixed in just a week, though, with how bad that Joel Klatt thought they were on that side of the ball.
Klatt assessed the Sooners’ offensive film from their conference opener and reacted to it on his show this week. Frankly, it wasn’t pretty whatsoever for OU.
“What was that?” Klatt asked. “I did watch their offensive film on Sunday. It was gross. It was gross…Their film is a disaster. This offense has to go back to square one.”
“The offense was an absolute mess. Now they have a quarterback dilemma but I’m here to tell you that it is not a quarterback issue at Oklahoma,” said Klatt.
Oklahoma totaled just 222 yards overall with neither aspect being all that effective. They also only converted on third down just three times in the entire game.
That’s before getting to the quarterback question of it all. Jackson Arnold started the game and went 7/16 (43.8%) for 54 yards with three total interceptions. The Sooners then sat him for Michael Hawkins who went 11/18 (61.1%) for 132 yards, plus 22 more in rushing, and a touchdown.
Coming out of that game, Oklahoma is now sticking with Hawkins. However, with what all is wrong with their offense from a technical and foundational standpoint, Klatt knows it doesn’t matter which quarterback that they play.
“You can say all you want that, like, okay, they’ve got a quarterback issue and they’ve got to fix the quarterback position. It’s not a quarterback issue. It really isn’t. While their quarterbacks played poorly, it is an offensive issue,” said Klatt. “Every single piece of their offense was bad – every single piece. The game plan? Bad. Execution? Bad. The fundamentals? Bad. All of it. All of it. Every single piece of it. The protection plan was, at times, egregiously bad where the quarterback is looking dead into the spot where the linebacker is blitzing from, which means he either should be hot or side adjust, meaning, like, throw the football quickly, and he’s taking a full drop, hitching, and almost getting sacked while the offense shuffles the other direction, slides the other direction.”
“It’s wild what they’re doing!” Klatt exclaimed. “The schematics are totally off.”
For Klatt, that leaves the blame on the coaching staff. Either they coached them to do what he saw on tape, which would be bad, or they’re allowing the team to do what he saw on tape, which would be bad too.
“As a coach, you have to understand these two truths about the film that you watch. What you see on that film? You are either only one of two things – coaching or allowing,” said Klatt. “At OU, there is a lot of bad football being played. If you’re telling me that everything that they coach them to do is not being done on the film then that’s a problem. If they are doing what’s being coached then that’s a problem.”
Oklahoma might find some better offense with this change ahead of their first road game in the league. Still, Klatt says it’s going to take a lot more than that to fix what he saw happening in Norman last weekend.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys have an 18-game Big 12 losing streak and a two-year streak with no bowl game. The two things go hand in hand.
The Cowboys must win at least six games to get to a bowl game. That means winning, at minimum, three conference games, assuming OSU wins all three non-conference games. Lose a non-league game and the Cowboys must win four.
Oklahoma State is 4-20 since reaching the Big 12 Championship game, losing to Texas and then going to the Fiesta Bowl. If the Cowboys want to turn things around under first-year head coach Eric Morris, getting to a bowl game is a good first step.
This bowl projection should make the Cowboys feel good.
Oklahoma State’s Optimistic Bowl Projection
Athlon Sports’ 2026 football annual is on newsstands and in its Big 12 preview the publication picked the Cowboys to finish in eighth place. The publication didn’t provide a projected record. But the teams in the eighth-place range in the Big 12 last year all won at least six games, meaning they went to a bowl game.
So that meant Athlon’s is projecting the Cowboys are good enough to go bowling this year, which means they’re going to end their Big 12 losing streak and get out of the conference’s cellar. Good news. But where?
The publication has the Cowboys meeting former Big 8 rival Missouri in the Texas Bowl in Houston. If that’s the case it would be Oklahoma State’s fourth trip to a bowl game in Houston, including the 1983 Bluebonnet Bowl at the Astrodome. It would also say something about where OSU stands in the conference.
Recently, the full bowl game schedule was released and the Big 12’s bowl game pecking order was also announced. Of the league’s non-playoff bowl tie-ins, the Texas Bowl is No. 3 on the list behind the Alamo Bowl and Pop Tarts Bowl. These tie-ins would apply to Big 12 teams after the College Football Playoff participants are decided.
The Cowboys would go third in this scenario. BYU, the team picked second, would go to the Alamo Bowl, while Houston, which is projected to finish third, would go to the Pop Tarts Bowl.
Why take OSU if you’re the Texas Bowl? That bowl committee may be banking on the infusion of offense making the Cowboys an exciting team to watch this season, which would be enticing to any bowl game committee. Morris runs the Air Raid offense and imported the key players from his former job, North Texas, where they went 12-2. That includes quarterback Drew Mestemaker.
But by taking OSU, that committee would be taking the Cowboys over Utah, Kansas, Arizona and Arizona State, all teams projected to finish better than Oklahoma State. The Texas Bowl would be banking that the Cowboys would be a better draw.
For context, Houston played in the Texas Bowl last season, won the game and wrapped up a 10-win season, if Cowboys fans need another reason to feel optimistic.
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OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry is monitoring multiple confirmed cases of New World Screwworm in Texas and New Mexico.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says the screwworm is an invasive species whose larvae infest the open wounds of livestock and other mammals.
The USDA also said NWS is not contagious and does not spread directly from animals to people or from person to person.
The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture (ODAFF) said the pest feeds on living tissue and can infect livestock, pets, wildfowl, and people, but the pest does not impact Oklahoma’s food supply.
ODAFF has travel restrictions in place for species traveling from state to state and infected zones:
- Any species traveling from an infested state, but not an infested zone, can enter Oklahoma with a CVI that includes a statement “All animals in shipment do not originate from or transit through a NWS Infested Zone.”
- Any species that originates from an infested zone will need to meet the movement requirements for the state of origin, obtain a permit from the Oklahoma State Veterinarian’s office, and have a CVI that states “all animals listed were individually inspected and found free of wounds.”
ODAFF said if you suspect a case, contact the State Veterinarian’s office at 405-522-6141, your County OSU Extension Educator, or veterinarian.
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OKLAHOMA (KXII) – Early voting for the Oklahoma primary election begins this week.
Voters can cast early ballots at local county election boards starting on Thursday, June 11, and Friday, June 12, between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
A list of early voting locations can be found here.
Election day is next Tuesday, June 16.
Oklahoma voters will decide on a new governor as Gov. Kevin Stitt approaches the end of his final term.
In this election, Oklahomans will also choose party nominees for the U.S. Senate ahead of the Senate election in Oklahoma on November 3.
Five Republicans, five Democrats, and two Independents are running in the primary to fill the vacant seat left by Markwayne Mullin’s departure to lead Homeland Security.
State Question 832, proposing to raise the minimum wage statewide, is also up for a vote this year.
For registration and voting information, visit the Oklahoma voter portal.
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