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NCAAF As the situation at Oklahoma State continues to deteriorate, people at rival Oklahoma are a little worried the Cowboys could come after the Sooners’ first-year offensive coordinator to replace Mike Gundy. After a tumultuous offseason that included a standoff with Oklahoma State’s board of regents and a $1 million reduction in salary, Gundy’s 21st season as the head coach at his alma mater has gotten off to a brutal start. Advertisement Last week, after Gundy made headlines with comments about how much Oregon is paying its players, his Cowboys were embarrassed 69-3 by Dan Lanning’s Ducks. The blowout loss was the worst of Gundy’s coaching career, topping the 52-0 beatdown Oklahoma State got from Colorado to end last season with a 3-9 record — also a low mark of his career. Gundy, who has a $15 million buyout, entered the season on a hot seat, and it has only gotten hotter. Who could follow him in Stillwater? Some inside Oklahoma think Sooners offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle could be a target. Arbuckle, who turns 30 next week, has put a much-needed jolt into Oklahoma’s offense. In a 24-13 win against No. 15 Michigan last week, dynamic dual-threat QB John Mateer, who followed Arbuckle to Norman from Washington State, accounted for three touchdowns and helped the Sooners convert nine of 17 third-down tries. Mateer, in his second season as a starter running Arbuckle’s diverse spread attack, leads all SEC players with 760 yards of total offense through two weeks. OU ranked last in the SEC and No. 124 in the Football Bowl Subdivision, last year, in yards per play (4. 81). Arbuckle is becoming a hot commodity. His track record of producing prolific offenses has sparked a meteoric rise since he finished his playing career at West Texas A&M in 2017.  He broke into coaching as a quality control assistant in 2018 at Houston Baptist, where he supplemented his income by driving for a food delivery app.  Arbuckle helped coordinator Zach Kittley transform the Western Kentucky offense, which finished No. 3 in the country in yards per play in 2021, and then replaced Kittley as play caller when his friend left for Texas Tech. After WKU, Arbuckle spent two years at Washington State with Cam Ward and then Mateer at quarterback. Advertisement Kittley, 34, is now the youngest head coach in the FBS at Florida Atlantic. If Oklahoma’s turnaround from last year’s 6-7 showing continues, expect Arbuckle to be a candidate to take that title from his mentor. Coming off a 10-win season punctuated by a bowl win over South Carolina, Bret Bielema’s Illinois squad is up to No. 9 in the nation following another impressive win last week, blowing out Duke 45-19 on the road. The Illini could be legit Playoff contenders led by Luke Altmyer, one of the more underrated passers in the nation (he checked in at No. 13 in The Athletic’s preseason quarterback rankings). He has thrown six touchdowns and no picks and is completing 75 percent of his passes through two games. Last week, he outplayed Duke’s Darian Mensah, who had three turnovers against the Illini. Altmyer seems to have improved his pocket awareness, which was an area of his game that needed work. “He’s a really good college quarterback who will win a s— ton of games there, ” said one rival coach. “He’s good at everything he does. ” The Illini don’t have headliners at the skill positions, but wideout Hank Beatty appears to be headed for a breakout season. He has 13 receptions for 236 yards so far and scored on a 25-yard reverse against Duke. Defensively, Illinois has no Devon Witherspoon (a top-five pick in 2023) and probably no Johnny Newton (the No. 36 pick last year), but edge rusher Gabe Jacas is a menace (three sacks and two forced fumbles), and Wisconsin transfer James Thompson Jr. , a 6-6, 310-pound defensive lineman, also causes headaches on a unit that is second in the country in turnovers and No. 11 in run defense. “They’re a good team because they have good players everywhere who are very experienced and have all played in the same scheme for a long time, ” a rival head coach said. “They don’t have very many weaknesses. Jacas is a really good college player. But I don’t think they have anyone who is just elite. But now they have confidence. They have a self-belief now, and they did not have that two years ago. ” Advertisement After thumping No. 25 Boise State 34-7 and then upsetting Florida 18-16, can USF knock off a third ranked team in a row to start the season? The Bulls will get the chance Saturday at No. 5 Miami. To do so, they will need another impressive performance by quarterback Byrum Brown, who has now thrown a school-record 240 consecutive passes without an interception. Two years ago, Brown was one of only two quarterbacks in the nation to post 3, 000-plus passing yards and 800-plus rushing yards in the regular season (Heisman winner Jayden Daniels was the other). A broken leg five games into last season derailed 2024, though the Bulls still managed to win seven games. Brown came in at No. 42 on this year’s Freaks List after he hit 22. 5 mph on the GPS and squatted 600 pounds this offseason. He outplayed Florida’s D. J. Lagway last week and will test the Hurricanes defense this week. “In that (USF) system with all that Tennessee stuff they do with that warp-speed tempo, if you’re sitting back in zone, he’ll pick you apart, ” said a defensive back coach who has faced Brown and the Bulls. “Don’t underestimate his arm. He can make every throw and he is fast. I think he’s a legit NFL guy. ” Kittley’s team is off to a 1-1 start in Boca Raton, with a blowout loss to Maryland and a blowout victory against Florida A&M. This week’s Shula Bowl is an interesting matchup of first-year coaches, with Kittley and FIU’s Willie Simmons squaring off. The Panthers have had a similar start to the season, easily beating FCS Bethune Cookman before getting shut out by Penn State last week. The interesting matchup will be Kittley’s offense — inspired by Mike Leach’s Air Raid — against an FIU defense led by veteran coordinator Jovan Dewitt that made life difficult for the No. 2 Nittany Lions last week. Advertisement FIU held Penn State to a 3-for-12 effort on third down, 2-for-4 on fourth down and a 36 percent success rate overall. Success rate measures the outcome of a play vs. the down and distance. A success rate above 40 percent is considered pretty good. Penn State ended up popping a couple of long touchdowns in the second half to pull away for a 34-0 win, but some Nittany Lions fans were booing their team at halftime when the lead was only 10-0. The Panthers have some power-conference body types in their front seven such as 6-foot-7, 315-pound defensive tackle Olasunkonmi Agunloye and 6-5, 260-pound edge Kenton Simmons, a junior college transfer. People around the program are encouraged by the early returns under Simmons, the former Florida A&M head coach who replaced Mike Mc Intyre after last season. “Kids play free with a desire to excel and no fear of failure, ” a program source said. FIU hasn’t won more than four games in a season since 2019, but Conference USA is wide open with teams in various states of transition. A low-key interesting game in the SEC this weekend is Vanderbilt at South Carolina. The Gamecocks are ranked No. 11 and riding a lot of hype around quarterback La Norris Sellers, but through two weeks the Commodores have been the more impressive outfit. Both teams played an FCS opponent and Virginia Tech. The Gamecocks beat the Hokies 24-11 in a neutral-site opener in Atlanta, and the Dores ran away from Tech in Blacksburg, 44-20. South Carolina comes in with one of the worst offenses in the SEC; its 5. 19 yards per play ranks 15th in the 16-team league. Vanderbilt is second in the conference at 8. 37 yards per play after carving up a Virginia Tech defense that gave the Gamecocks problems. Vandy was a revelation behind quarterback Diego Pavia last season, winning seven games and upsetting Alabama. While conventional wisdom suggests a step back for coach Clark Lea’s Commodores, there is belief within the program this year’s team is better than last year’s. Advertisement Vanderbilt entered the season planning to use talented cornerback Martel Hight as a receiver, a la Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, in an effort to provide more playmakers for Pavia outside of tight end Eli Stowers. Hight has played both ways, with three catches for 31 yards. However, the addition of Tre Richardson, a Division II transfer from Washburn, and the development of Junior Sherrill, who was second on the team with 29 catches last season as a sophomore, means Hight can be more of a complementary piece of the offense, which should bode well for Vandy on both sides of the ball. (Photo: Kevin Jairaj / Imagn Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle