Brent Venables' quarterback decision vs. Ole Miss should cool off his hot seat a bit

Brent Venables has already thumbscrewed this up so badly in Norman. The only reason he is still employed is because of the albatross of a contract extension athletic dictator Joe Castiglione gave him for no reason this past offseason. Venables fed Jackson Arnold to the wolves vs. Tennessee, only to pivot to the much more mobile Michael Hawkins Jr., only to pivot back to Arnold after starting 4-3.

I remember watching the game being played on Owen Field between the Sooners and the Volunteers quite well. Arnold was so far in his own head he looked like Sam Darnold seeing ghosts and throwing across his body for the flightless New York Jets. After having backed up Michael Hawkins Jr. for the better part of a month now, Venables is going back to him because Oklahoma has nothing left to lose.

This is the right call for Venables to make because it at least attempts to curry favor with prospective recruits that may want to come play for the Sooners one day. To be honest, it feels more like damage control. I saw a coach who used to work at Oklahoma not all that long ago look took comfortable in Norman. At this point, I would much rather have Shane Beamer leading this program over Venables.

It may have been an easy decision to make, but this is the first decent one Venables made in weeks.

However, OU's offensive line is a wet paper bag and firing Seth Littrell was only a scapegoating tactic.

Brent Venables postures by naming Jackson Arnold Oklahoma's starter

Besides how utterly pitiful Arnold looked vs. the Tennessee defense, there are two things I keep going back to with him from earlier in the summer. The first is he was a sophomore going to SEC Media Days in Dallas back in July. Of the 48 combined student-athletes who were hand-picked to represent their schools at this major media kickoff event, Arnold was one of only a few underclassmen there.

To me, that indicates a leadership problem in-house at OU. You only send players to those events that you can trust will represent your school well, both on and off the field. It does not have to be a quarterback, strictly because of the position he plays. How was there not a third junior or senior on Oklahoma's roster who could have gone to Dallas over him? He was anointed before being benched.

The other thing is this. While attending the Manning Passing Academy in late June, Arnold talked to Georgia starter in redshirt senior Carson Beck about playing at Auburn. That was supposed to be Arnold's first SEC road game. Instead, he played atrociously at home vs. Tennessee for that not to happen. Hawkins went in and got the win over an Auburn team that makes it a point to beat itself.

What I am getting at is Oklahoma is completely devoid of leadership from an overall roster standpoint, probably because everyone on the team sees what we see: Venables is completely unsure of himself in this role and in this conference. Beamer might beat a cocky idiot who is actually nicknamed Cocky, but even if he loves the sound of his own voice, he gets his guys fired up to play.

The quarterback change may take Venables off the hot seat briefly, but that was the least he could do in the eyes of Boomer Sooner Nation. What Oklahoma needs is an SEC head coach, and it is abundantly clear that Venables is not that. After handing out the dumbest contract extension of the offseason, Castiglione needs to go, too. It is only a matter of time before Oklahoma opts to reboot.

Making a decision anyone with a pulse would do is not how you keep your job as an SEC head coach.