After a blowout home loss against South Carolina, Oklahoma head football coach Brent Venables moved on from offensive coordinator Seth Littrell ahead of a road matchup at No. 18 Ole Miss.
Venables promoted co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley, a familiar face in Oxford, to take over play-calling duties in the interim. Finley was the Rebels’ passing coordinator and tight ends coach in 2020 — Lane Kiffin’s debut season as the Ole Miss frontman.
While there is an air of familiarity between the Rebel head coach and the Sooners’ new playcaller, Kiffin doesn’t think his past working relationship with Finley will give Ole Miss (5-2, 1-2 SEC) an edge over Oklahoma (4-3, 1-3 SEC) when the two teams square off this weekend. This is largely due to the fact that this will be Finley’s debut in the play-calling realm.
“I don’t think that really matters. I can understand why you would think that would mean a lot. He didn’t call plays here. He’s got a different situation, obviously. He was our tight ends coach here,” Kiffin said. “I don’t think him having worked here before would help us at all in figuring out what he’s going to do.”
In addition to the change in coaching, the Sooners will once again hand the keys to field general Jackson Arnold to lead an injury-ridden offense. Arnold, a former consensus five-star at the high school ranks, began the 2025 campaign on fire in a 51-3 win against Temple, but faded, to the point of being benched for backup Michael Hawkins, Jr., as the competition stiffened.
Thus far, Arnold has thrown for 876 yards, eight touchdowns, and three interceptions. The young signal-caller will be without four wide receivers this weekend and may lack team-leading wideout Deion Burks, who is listed as questionable in Oklahoma’s latest player availability report.
As for the Sooners’ game plan, Kiffin may not be entirely sure how Finley plans to run the offense, but he is doubtful Oklahoma will undergo a seismic shift in its schematic game plan on such short notice.
“With only a week to call plays, usually, people kind of add a play here or there, but stick with the same system. You can’t reinvent the system in six days,” Kiffin added. “There’s no magic formula to figure out what they’re thinking. Then again, it’s not like Joe Jon was our coordinator here. He was the tight ends coach. He’s never called plays. It’s not like there’s any film to go watch from when he called plays.”
Oklahoma looks to nurse the wounds of a blowout loss, but Ole Miss is planning to make a statement after an overtime heartbreaker at LSU two weeks ago. The Rebels may have to compete without star wide receiver Tre Harris, who exited the field in the second half against the Tigers and is currently listed as questionable for the upcoming contest.
Since conference play began, Lane Kiffin’s top-10 scoring offense has been slowed. Ole Miss averaged 55 points per game in its first four contests — all against non-conference foes. The scoring was cut by more than half in the following three matchups with the Rebels only mustering up an average of just over 24 points.
As the offense has struggled in SEC play, with the deficiencies being magnified in the trenches, Pete Golding’s defense has done its part to keep Ole Miss in each game. The Rebels’ defense has surrendered just 17 points per game against conference counterparts and has been especially effective in stopping the run. Ole Miss currently boasts the No. 1 rushing defense in the nation.
Unfortunately for Kiffin and company, the positives on the defense have been overshadowed by the Rebels’ poor offensive line play and mostly stagnant ground attack. The offensive woes, and arguably a few questionable coaching decisions, have resulted in one of the most talented teams in Ole Miss history having two losses on its résumé through seven games.
If Ole Miss wants to keep its aspirations of debuting in the expanded College Football Playoff this year, then a win against Oklahoma is a must, and the margin of victory may also bear consequences.
Saturday’s ballgame between the Rebels and Sooners will mark the first time the two teams face off as conference foes. The game will kick off at 11 a.m. central and will be broadcast on ESPN as well as participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.
