The Oklahoma Sooners were thoroughly embarrassed on Saturday in what’s becoming far too regular an occurrence. This week’s beatdown came at the hands of the South Carolina Gamecocks, who dominated the game from start to finish, winning 35-9.
Brent Venables and the Sooners fell to 1-3 in SEC play and 4-3 overall on the 2024 season with the 26-point loss. It’s become clear over the past five weeks that OU is not ready to be a member of the Southeastern Conference, at least not one that can be expected to win with any regularity.
A season that began with so much excitement has developed into a year where it looks like Oklahoma will miss a bowl game for the first time since 1998, when John Blake was the head coach. It’s gotten that bad that quickly in Norman, and Venables is officially on the hot seat.
OU’s offense has been downright embarrassing this year, as they cannot move the ball or score. They scored more points for the opponent on Saturday than for themselves. The defense is good enough but simply cannot hold up without the help of the other half of this football team. Oklahoma’s struggles on offense led to a change at offensive coordinator on Sunday evening.
It’s just the latest in a lineup of losses for Oklahoma this season, and the schedule gets harder from here on out. Ole Miss, Missouri, Alabama and LSU are licking their chops, as the Sooners look like a “get right” game at this point.
Here are our grades for the unmitigated disaster that was Oklahoma vs. South Carolina.
Quarterback: D
Oklahoma used to be “QBU”, a place where some of college football’s best called home. In 2024, they don’t have a single quarterback on their roster that is an impact starter in the mighty SEC. The worst part is, it’s not even mostly the fault of those two players.
Michael Hawkins Jr. made his third career start in this game, but only lasted three series. That’s because he ended each of those series with a turnover, with two returned for touchdowns by the Gamecocks.
He was harassed on basically every dropback, as co-offensive coordinators Seth Littrell and Joe Jon Finley cooked up an inexplicable game plan that chose to ignore the quick passing game and instead opt for deep dropback passes against excellent pass rushers.
Jackson Arnold replaced Hawkins for the remainder of the game, throwing one touchdown, but also fumbling twice. The Sooners recovered both fumbles, but it is an alarming turnover-prone trend that continues for Arnold.
But give the young quarterback props in at least one area. Arnold burned his redshirt and another year of eligibility to play in this train wreck of a game. Say what you want about play on the field, but that’s a kid who didn’t quit on his team and was there when Venables needed to make a change. That fact alone takes the QB grade from an “F” to a “D”.
Running Back: D+
Oklahoma has struggled to run the ball all year, and actually had one of their better performances of 2024 in this game. On result of getting behind 21-0 before the fans are all in their seats is that you can’t run the ball a lot if you want to get back in the game.
That being said, Jovantae Barnes showed no quit in this one. He’s not the most talented back on the roster, but he runs hard and fights to the end. He got the lion’s share of the carries, only gaining 70 yards, but if we’re looking for veterans on this offense who won’t back down, Barnes is a good place to start.
Gavin Sawchuk failed to register a carry in this game, and I think everyone would like to see Taylor Tatum get even more run. He struggles in pass protection, like most freshmen do, but he presents a glimmer of hope that OU may be able to run the ball again someday.
Wide Receiver: D
If we’re looking for bright spots, the play of Jacob Jordan at wide receiver was, at the very least, a pleasant surprise. He already gets open more often than his true freshman counterparts, and he led the Sooners in receiving in this game.
Yes, OU is down all five of their best wideouts. But that can no longer be the excuse for why the offense looks as incompetent as it does. The depth at WR is obviously a steep drop-off from the starters to the backups, and there aren’t any players open for the quarterbacks to get the ball to.
At this point, who knows when the starters will be back? It looks like this will be the group for at least a few more weeks, especially considering the way the Sooners have handled wide receiver injuries in 2024.
Tight End: F
Oklahoma cannot continue to play, recruit, develop and portal this way at the tight end position. They lose the battle far too often in the blocking department, and on an offense with problems literally everywhere, the tight ends are among the worst units on that side of the ball.
With all of the wide receiver starters hurt, the hope was that the tight ends could step up and help ease the blow. That hasn’t happened. With a shaky offensive line, it was hoped that the tight ends could step in and give the Sooners some help blocking up the core run concepts. That hasn’t happened.
Frankly, it hasn’t been good enough since Brayden Willis left, and there’s a long way to go before it even gets respectable again.
Offensive Line: F-
If there was a lower grade that I could give the offensive line, I would. That was one of the worst performances I have ever seen from an entire position group. Both quarterbacks were under constant pressure, leading to turnovers that essentially ended this game before it began.
The Sooners can’t get any push up front, so they can’t run the ball. They can’t pass protect, so they can’t throw the ball down the field. The wide receivers can’t get open in the short time that the QB is actually standing in the pocket before the defender is on top of them. This offensive line gave up a remarkably bad nine sacks.
It’s extremely bad for this offensive line, with recruiting and development a chunk of the reason why, as well as some comically bad portal misses this year. There may not be a five-man unit worse in the Power Four.
Defensive Line: B
The Gamecocks ran for just 39 yards in this game, averaging just 1.9 yards per carry. That’s typically a good enough performance to get a win, but not when your offense is giving away free points.
After getting pushed around a bit by Texas last week, the defensive line responded with a better performance. They were able to get some pressure, but LaNorris Sellers was typically able to escape the pocket.
Jayden Jackson continues to get Sooner Nation excited about his future, as he had one of his best games at Oklahoma in this one. Gracen Halton flashed a couple of times, but it was ultimately all in a losing effort.
Linebacker: B-
Similarly to the defensive line, the OU linebackers got back on track a bit in this game. It was a rocky start, as the Gamecocks drove the ball on a short field after the first Oklahoma turnover for a score, but the Sooners really gave up just one long drive all day that resulted in a touchdown.
There really is nothing more that Zac Alley’s defense can do. There will always be some mistakes, and offenses will make great plays, but the defense is playing well enough to at least be competitive.
You feel bad for a guy like Danny Stutsman, who came back for this. He could be in the NFL right now, but he decided to return to college to lead the Sooners into the SEC. He plays hard and can hopefully mentor whoever will step into his leadership role on this defense next year.
Secondary: C
Oklahoma’s secondary would probably getting more attention if it wasn’t for the nightmare offense that resides in Norman this year. On a strong defense, the secondary, specifically cornerback, has been a weak link at times.
However, they played at a mostly satisfactory level in this ballgame, as Sellers threw for just 175 yards. As with the rushing attack, that should be good enough to make it close, but it obviously wasn’t. The coverage bust on the Joshua Simon touchdown catch is really the one that kills you here.
Freshman Eli Bowen and senior Billy Bowman deserve a highlight here. Similar to Stutsman, Bowman came back to help OU this year, and doesn’t deserve the offense he’s getting. Bowen represents a possible exciting future for this secondary, as he’s been pretty good since becoming a starter.
Oklahoma’s defense certainly isn’t perfect, and there are always wrinkles to iron out, but they’ve got no chance with the offensive situation they’ve been handed.
Brent Venables is a good man, and a good football coach. He’s fixed the OU defense in three years at the helm. But what we’re seeing isn’t acceptable as an overall football team. His offense is letting him down, and he has to fix it, and fast. The tough conversations around Venables’ long-term future are starting to begin, and he’s got to find a way to get some wins and get the ship heading in the right direction.
Special Teams: F+
So much for winning the special teams battle. It was a disappointing performance from the third phase of the game, as the Gamecocks dominated in their area of expertise.
South Carolina emptied the clip on a two-point conversion try in the first half on a wonky formation, they stopped a baffling fake punt call by the Sooners, and won the field position battle in a big way.
The Sooners are better in this department than they were a year ago. They don’t make as many of the bad mistakes that hurt them in 2023. The next step of the development will be to make the big plays and force mistakes, as opposed to just holding serve. If the special teams can do that, maybe they can help put points on the board to help out an offense that is completely and utterly lost right now.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Report card for Oklahoma Sooners vs. South Carolina
