What are the Sooners getting in new offensive coordinator Seth Littrell?

Oklahoma's search for a new offensive coordinator is over.

The Sooners have promoted Seth Littrell to offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley has been elevated to co-offensive coordinator. While Finley will see an increased role in offensive game-planning, Littrell will be the play caller and quarterbacks coach.

It's a big step up for Littrell, who was hired by Brent Venables as an OU offensive analyst last spring. But it's not unfamiliar territory for Littrell — he's previously had stints as an offensive coordinator at Arizona (2010-12), Indiana (2012-14) and as the assistant head coach of offense at North Carolina (2014-16), and he was the head coach at North Texas from 2016-2022, where he was involved in the offense.

Of course, Littrell had OU ties long before he was hired as an analyst. He played fullback at OU for four seasons and was a team captain on the 2000 team, when the Sooners won a national championship.

But fans are likely focused on the bigger picture. Jeff Lebby is the new head coach at Mississippi State after two seasons as OU's play caller. Littrell will be leading the offense in the Sooners' first year as an SEC team. What can fans expect from Littrell's offense?

It's clear with this move, Venables emphasized continuity. There are a lot of ways that Littrell and Lebby are similar. But there are ways they are different, too.

Here's an overview of Littrell's history as an offensive coordinator and the defining characteristics of his teams:

This season, the Sooners were one of the most explosive offenses in the country. They ranked 14th nationally in plays of at least 10 yards (199), ninth in plays of at least 20 yards (73), ninth in plays of at least 30 yards (37) and fifth in plays of at least 40 yards (23), per cfbstats.com. The Sooners averaged 43.2 points per game, which ranked third nationally.

That all fits with some of Littrell's most explosive offenses. Here's a look at where some of his best offenses have ranked nationally in terms of explosiveness:

That explosiveness has typically translated to points on the scoreboard. Littrell's had seven teams average over 33 points per game, and all but three of his offenses have averaged at least 430 yards per contest.

Another thing that has stood out is his teams' improvement from Year 1 to Year 2. At Arizona, the Wildcats jumped from 28.2 to 30.8 points per game. At Indiana, the Hoosiers improved from 30.8 points to 38.4 points per game. At North Carolina, the Tarheels improved from 33.2 to 40.8 points per game. And at North Texas, the Mean Green 24.8 to 35.5 points per game.

While Lebby's offenses certainly have had moments of explosive passing plays, he has typically had a run-first mentality. Last season, the Sooners ran the ball over 57% of the time, the 26th-highest rate nationally. This season, the Sooners ran the ball 53.4% of the time.

But historically, Littrell's playcalling has often relied more on an air-raid, pass-first system. Here's a look at how often his teams have thrown the ball:

In short, his teams have thrown it more than they've run the ball in eight of 12 seasons as a staff member. More than half of Littrell's teams have finished inside the top 25 in passing offense.

In 2011, Arizona quarterback Nick Foles completed 387 of 560 (69%) passing attempts for 4,334 yards and 28 touchdowns, ranking first in the Pac-12 and fifth nationally in total offense (352.58 yards per game). From 2016-2019, the North Texas offenses were powered by quarterback Mason Fine and offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, the former Texas Tech quarterback.

Fine finished as the program's all-time leading passer in program history with 12,505 yards, while also finishing first in passing touchdowns (93), passer efficiency (140.68), total touchdowns (100), and career completions (1,039). In 2017, he threw for 4,052 yards and 31 touchdowns while completing 63.4% of his passes, and he finished the season as the Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year.

It is worth noting that North Texas relied more heavily on the run in Littrell's last three seasons there, as the offense shifted more to spread concepts with co-offensive coordinators Mike Bloesch and Tommy Mainord. In 2021, DeAndre Torrey ran for over 1,200 yards and 13 touchdowns, while quarterback Austin Ane ran the ball 80 times.

But typically, Littrell's offenses have been defined by a willingness to air it out. That could bode nicely for OU quarterback Jackson Arnold next season.

Sooner fans know that Lebby's offenses ran at a ultra-fast pace. The Sooners ranked seventh nationally in plays per game (76.0) in 2022 and fifth (74.6) in 2023. As a result the Sooners ranked near the bottom of the country in time of possession, averaging a TOP of 26:11 (127th nationally) in 2022 and 29:06 (84th nationally) in 2023.

Littrell's offenses have played at a slightly slower pace, but not by much. Eight of his teams have averaged at least 73 plays per game, and seven of them have ranked inside the top 20 nationally in plays per game.

Whether at Arizona, Indiana, North Carolina or North Texas, Littrell's teams haven't typically dominated the time of possession. In fact, eight of them have finished 112th or lower in TOP.

Now, time of possession doesn't necessarily correlate to success one way or the other. Littrell's offenses have been known to put points on the board. But the Sooners did have some issues the last couple of seasons with the offense stalling out or scoring too quickly, leaving the defense on the field for large stretches.

It'll be interesting to see how Littrell and Finley manage that next season.