The Oklahoma Sooners have been bad on the offensive line for some time, and that is no secret. The Sooners’ offensive line has easily been the biggest disappointment on the roster over the last three or four years. Now, Oklahoma coach Brent Venables is saying so publicly.

That puts a spotlight on the man coaching that room. Offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh is one of the most decorated offensive line coaches in college football. He has sent numerous players to the NFL and has put together some great offensive lines. At Oklahoma over the last few years, however, it has been anything but that.

The numbers on OU’s offensive line are hard to ignore

When you look at the production up front, the problem shows up in both the passing game and the running game. OU offensive line by the numbers: 88 sacks allowed over the last three years, the third-most in the SEC 76th in rushing offense in 2024 113th in rushing offense in 2025 131st in rushing offense in 2026

So the offensive line hasn’t protected the quarterback, and it hasn’t opened running lanes either. That trend has gotten worse each season, not better. A ranking of 131st in rushing offense is about as low as it gets.

That falls on Bedenbaugh. With the way things have gone, it’s fair to wonder whether he is coaching for his job the rest of the season. Venables didn’t hide how he feels about how that room has developed over the last few years.

“It’s been inconsistent and incredibly disappointing,” Venables told reporters on Tuesday. “The transfer portal is the No. 1 reason… A very uneven job in terms of (who they’ve added in the portal on the OL)… Way too many guys coming and going at that position group… It’s been very unstable and certainly not the development you’d want.”

That is about as direct as you will hear a head coach get about one of his own position groups. It also tells you Venables isn’t afraid to let his staff know when one area of his team has been struggling for this long.

The transfer portal churn backs up what Venables said

Venables is right, and the numbers back him up. According to George Stoia of Sooner Scoop, OU has taken 12 transfers on the offensive line over the last three seasons. For comparison, Stoia noted that Texas has taken only five. That’s bad. However, the traffic going the other direction might be even worse.

Oklahoma has also lost 15 scholarship offensive linemen to the portal, according to Stoia. Of those 15, 12 were high school recruits. Those are the players a program is supposed to develop into multi-year starters, and the Sooners keep watching them leave before that happens.

Here’s the thing about building an offensive line: it takes time. Linemen typically need a couple of years in a strength program and in a scheme before they become reliable starters. Continuity matters as much as talent up front, because five players have to work as one unit.

When you’re constantly swapping out bodies, you never get that chemistry. That’s exactly what Venables meant when he called the room unstable. Too many players have come and gone, and the development simply hasn’t followed.

Why this matters for Oklahoma in the SEC

Being in the SEC raises the stakes even more. The trenches matter more than almost anything in this conference. If you can’t block the defensive fronts you see week in and week out, it doesn’t matter much what you have at quarterback or at the skill positions.

To be fair, Bedenbaugh’s track record earned him plenty of benefit of the doubt. He wouldn’t have the reputation he has without years of results. But that track record doesn’t change what has happened in Norman over the last three seasons, and Venables clearly isn’t willing to look past it either.

The Sooners have to fix the way they build this room. That means fewer misses in the portal and keeping more of the high school linemen they recruit long enough to develop them.

Either way, Venables has made his feelings clear. The rest of the season will show whether that message gets through to the offensive line room, and to the coach running it.