The first-ever meeting of the Oklahoma Sooners and the South Carolina Gamecocks was always going to be memorable. Yet, in the history of college football, rarely has a historic matchup ever started as badly as it did for the Sooners. Inexperience, bad luck, and a massive momentum shift came together at exactly the wrong time.
Oklahoma Collapses Against South Carolina In 35-9 Loss
The Sooner Stumble
The developmental season is never a good one in college football. It’s a year filled with learning, struggles, and often disappointment. Head Coach Brent Venables is discovering just how bad a developmental season can be. In Oklahoma’s first year in the SEC, they’ve found a stiff welcome from all opponents. The Houston Cougars nearly derailed the Sooners in week two, and the Texas Longhorns stomped them down in this year’s Red River Rivalry. Now, it’s the turn of the South Carolina Gamecocks.
In the very first play of the game, freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. threw an interception to Nick Emmanwori. The Gamecocks pushed to the endzone seconds later. A mismatch with the tight end and defensive edge rusher forced a fumble in the Sooners’ second drive- the Gamecocks scooped it up for a touchdown. Confusion between the line and the sidelines ended in a pick-six for South Carolina.
There is nine minutes to go in the first quarter, and South Carolina is already up 21 to nothing.
Despite having extra offensive analysts and coaches on the field, the Sooners could not get anything going offensively. By the time of the Sooners’ fourth offensive drive, the entirety of Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium in Norman was sending the loudest boos I’ve heard in years. Continuous fumbles throughout the remainder of the game found that heated reaction turning into total apathy.
South Carolina’s Chaos Control
The SEC is known for dominating defenses and South Carolina has one of the best this year. They’ve kept top-scoring teams down in the dirt with them, and that’s helped make every game competitive. The key has been creating chaos and being able to control it. Nobody on the South Carolina defense does that better than Dylan Stewart.
Stewart’s ability to create chaos kept Hawkins off his game and forced the Sooners to adjust their entire game plan. Without a capable offensive line to block him, Stewart was able to control his own chaos and choose when and where he would make his mark. On the back of consistent blitzes, Stewart and the Gamecocks defense were able to wreak havoc in the Oklahoma backfield and seriously hampered their ability to do anything.
Buried Alive in Norman
Oklahoma brought in extra analysts, assistants, and coaches for the offensive side of the game. This was also, debatably, their worst offensive performance. When it became clear that Hawkins was in no position to carry the team, Jackson Arnold hopped onto the field for the first time in weeks. The Sooners shifted their offensive line around and kept the same playbook.
They were forced to punt shortly after.
The Sooners then opted to change their playbook to focus on the ground game. After all, the passing game was clearly going nowhere. After some good gains they, bizarrely, went back to the air. The Sooners lost ground to incompletions and a sack. When it was clear that South Carolina couldn’t defend against a run game led by Arnold and Javonte Barnes, the Sooners once again opted back to the passing game. More lost yards and incomplete passes resulted in South Carolina running up the score even further.
Even the legendary Bob Stoops, in for color commentary, was at a loss for words when asked how he would solve the offensive problem for this game. Despite some breakaway moments from Jacob Jordan, a freshman receiver, the Oklahoma offense couldn’t do anything. If their ranking in total offense for college football nationally wasn’t that high before, it’s even lower now. The defense didn’t perform much better- letting in a two-point conversion and jumping offsides even when both moves were glaringly obvious.
Conclusions
The Oklahoma Sooners-South Carolina game is one for the record books. This meeting of college football powerhouses turned into a total collapse for Oklahoma. This now casts doubt on the rest of Oklahoma’s season. The AP polls have dropped Oklahoma entirely from the Top 25, and this loss to South Carolina will push them even further down. Perhaps asking for advice from Coach Jeff Monken and the 23rd-ranked Army isn’t outside the realm of possibility?
Despite themselves, the Sooners put up their first 200+ passing-yard game this season. They also showcased a possible talent in Jordan, who was a major factor in earning those yards. Unfortunately, it’s just not enough. This season is being spent under the learning tree of the SEC- and it’s one filled with hard truths indeed.
It will be interesting to see if the Oklahoma Sooners can recover their season, but one thing you can be sure of is that Last Word on Sports will be watching closely every week.
