Oklahoma’s defense has spent most of the season looking like one of the nation’s most reliable groups. That made last Saturday’s showing against South Carolina stand out even more.
Brent Venables didn’t sugarcoat it after the Sooners gave up 521 total yards in the loss, including 309 through the air and 212 on the ground. LaNorris Sellers and the Gamecocks had too much room to work with, and OU’s normally disciplined defense spent too much of the afternoon reacting instead of dictating.
“Let them throw the ball over our head and didn’t tackle great,” Venables said. “We were in position several times and played on our heels.
The quarterback played fantastic. Their O-line played really good.
Their running backs played well. Again, they played with great purpose.”
The numbers backed up the frustration. Before that game, Oklahoma led the country by allowing just 13.6 first downs per contest.
South Carolina picked up 22. The Sooners were also second nationally in third-down conversion defense, but the Gamecocks still moved the chains on eight of 14 tries.
For a Venables defense, that kind of breakdown is unusual. Oklahoma’s overall defensive Pro Football Focus grade came in at 59.5, the lowest mark for the unit under Venables since the 2023 Kansas road loss, when the Sooners posted a 57.7 defensive grade.
Now sitting at 4-4, Venables is looking for a reset as Oklahoma heads to Florida on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville.
“We need to play like we're capable of playing,” Venables said. “We need to play better.
As I said, our fundamentals were really poor. Our entry angles in space, closing space were not great.
People kept great leverage in coverage. Just really, an overall poor performance.”
The tackling was especially rough. Oklahoma missed 25 tackles against South Carolina, with linebacker Kip Lewis responsible for six of them and linebacker Owen Heinecke adding three more.
“We knocked ‘em backwards a lot and guys just lost ‘em. Didn’t finish,” Venables said.
“Some of it’s their straining. Some of it’s, we’re knocking backwards and we’re halfway on the blocks still, and they’re doing the job, finishing and we’re not doing as good of a job on the outside in, or top down, or in the second level of assuming the guy is still not tackled.“
We didn’t play clean, tough, physical football like we have on defense all year. So obviously didn’t count on that happening and put a lot of pressure on every other part of our team.
And not playing to our strengths.”
There was at least one bright spot on offense. Wide receiver Ivan Carreon turned in the best game of his career, finishing with five catches for 88 yards and two touchdowns.
His scoring grabs came from 34 and 10 yards out in the fourth quarter, and his 11-yard catch in the third quarter was his first reception of the season. He had entered the game with only one snap played and finished as Oklahoma’s highest-graded offensive player.
Lewis, meanwhile, had a mixed day. He added his third career pick-six, but his missed tackles and 59.8 PFF grade made it a tough outing overall. His 22.8 tackling grade was his lowest of the season through eight games.
Elsewhere, former Sooners made their mark across the transfer portal report. Cincinnati wide receiver JV Gibson led the Bearcats with five catches for 76 yards in a loss to Utah.
Northwestern linebacker Kobie McKinzie posted six tackles and a half tackle for loss in a loss to Oregon. And UNLV quarterback Jackson Arnold completed 20 of 30 passes for 269 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in the Rebels’ win over Northern Illinois.
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