NORMAN - The Oklahoma Sooners have finally filled their vacant offensive coordinator position. Oklahoma will name Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle as their next playcaller.

He is fresh off of leading the Cougars to an 8-4 season.

The Sooners fired Seth Littrell in October after a truly disastrous offense. Oklahoma’s worst-performing offense in a decade turned a promising season into an utter failure. They had Joe Jon Finley fill in as the interim offensive coordinator. His future with the team isn’t certain.

Who is Ben Arbuckle?

Western Kentucky had hired Zach Kittley, who immediately called Arbuckle to serve as a quality control coach for the Hilltoppers. Arbuckle accepted the position without a second thought.

The Hilltoppers had tremendous success. Led by Bailey Zappe, Western Kentucky scored 44.2 points per game with a whopping 536.2 total yards per game and 433.7 yards passing per game. Zappe broke NCAA FBS records for both passing yards and passing touchdowns in a single season with 5,967 and 62, respectively.

This success saw Kittley earn a call from his alma mater, Texas Tech, to serve as their offensive coordinator. Western Kentucky head coach Tyson Helton quickly promoted Arbuckle to be his successor, citing things he had seen in practice.

“What I do with all our quality control guys is I try to put them in positions where I can evaluate them for future hires. During practice, I would let Ben call some plays — whether it was the [second- or thirdstring players] and evaluate him to see if I would want him as a quarterback coach, some other position coach or even as a possible coordinator. He was really talented. I thought Zach Kittley had done a good job of training him. When [Kittley] came here with what we do offensively, we molded two offenses — what we did with our offense and what Zach did with his. I felt like Ben understood it, knew what I was looking for and just was really, really talented.”

Arbuckle quickly continued the success, this time with a new quarterback he recruited named Austin Reed. With Reed under center, the Hilltoppers averaged 497.1 yards per game and finished 9-5 for the second year in a row. Despite their success through the air, Arbuckle’s offense at Western Kentucky was much more balanced than Kittley’s, rushing for nearly 50 more yards per game and had 600 more rushing yards than their 2021 iteration. The Hilltoppers broke 2,000 yards on the ground in 2022.

His success at Western Kentucky caught the eye of a few Power Five coaches despite being just 27 years old at the time. Before anyone else had the chance to catch on, Washington State head coach Jake Dickert called Arbuckle to serve as the Cougars’ offensive coordinator.

In just four years, Arbuckle went from working for an oil and gas company crunching numbers to a Power Five offensive coordinator.

Does Arbuckle Bring QB?

Where this gets interesting is what happens at quarterback with this hire. He has his own quarterback, John Mateer, whom he could bring to Norman. With Jackson Arnold likely leaving in the transfer portal, he could be the answer under center for the Sooners for the foreseeable future. However, Mateer is easily upgraded on, so the Sooners could also go in a new direction.

Choices for Arnold

There’s a universe where Arbuckle is all-in on Arnold. He could be jacked to give the once-promising passer a new lease on life. However, Arbuckle could also turn to a more familiar face who already knows his offense: WSU quarterback John Mateer.

Mateer was already going to be the subject of transfer rumors this winter given his excellent play and Washington State’s limitations in the old Pac-12. A whole lot of schools would jump at the chance to give Mateer a hefty NIL package and the chance to compete at a higher level. Oklahoma could be at the front of the line, if that’s what Mateer decides to do.

Earlier this fall, FanSided’s Matthew Natriello proposed some transfer destinations for Arnold, including Mississippi State, Michigan and Florida State. Now that there’s a chance Mateer could force Arnold out of Norman, let’s consider some other landing spots.

3. Arkansas Razorbacks should be desperate to offer Jackson Arnold the world

Sam Pittman is on the hot seat in Fayetteville but Arkansas announced his return for 2025. If he wants to stick around for 2026, he’ll need to get aggressive in finding a quarterback to lead the Razorbacks.

It’s no coincidence Pittman’s best season at Arkansas was 2021 with KJ Jefferson slinging it in Kendall Briles offense. Bobby Petrino is now in charge of the offense, but he couldn’t get enough going with Taylen Green running the offense.

Arnold visited Arkansas during his recruiting process in high school so he’s familiar with the school. Briles was recruiting him back then, but Petrino could use him just as much. Whatever the QB wants, the Razorbacks should be willing to offer it.

2. USC Trojans need star power at quarterback

Lincoln Riley has always had a stellar quarterback leading his offense. In 2024, he got his first real taste of running an offense with an NFL-level passer at his disposal. It didn’t go particularly well. Arnold could fix that for him.

Former UNLV quarterback Jayden Maiava replaced Miller Moss in November with some highs and lows. He didn’t do enough in his three games to guarantee a starting job in 2025.

Riley is going to have to dip into the portal to replace Moss from a depth perspective at the very least. Landing a high-ceiling prospect like Arnold would create serious competition to start. Between Maiava and Arnold, the Trojans should emerge with a strong presence behind center.

Arnold has the arm and athleticism to fit what Riley wants to do. He just needs some rehabilitation after a rough time in Norman. Riley’s reputation for developing quarterbacks is impeccable. Of course, Riley’s reputation is also trashed in Sooner circles. Arnold would need to mentally prepare for being known as Benedict in the state of Oklahoma if he left for Los Angeles.

1. Ole Miss Rebels need to strike gold again, a la Jaxson Dart

Lane Kiffin did an excellent job developing Jaxson Dart from a raw-but-exciting prospect into one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC. Arnold could look to Dart as an example of what he could become in Oxford as well.

Former LSU QB Walker Howard couldn’t beat out 2023 four-star Austin Simmons to back up Dart in 2024. Those two could battle it out to replace the departing starter but Ole Miss’s quarterback situation is far from certain.

If Kiffin isn’t 100 percent sure that one of those QBs should be his next starter, it would make a whole lot of sense for him to bring in someone like Arnold to become his next Dart.

Kiffin is going to need high-caliber QB play to continue if he wants to keep the Rebels competitive in the SEC. He wouldn’t pass up the chance to work with Arnold and Arnold shouldn’t pass up the chance to develop under one of the best in the business.

Regardless, seeing an Oklahoma offense with a plan will be refreshing. They’ll finally have an identity on offense again, and with the talent they will return and acquire in the portal, this could be a very fun and explosive offense.

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