Oklahoma’s turnaround story is still being written, and Saturday in Norman feels like another chapter that could point the Sooners in a very different direction.
After the third loss of the year against Kentucky, Brent Venables’ team looked like it had a long climb ahead. Since then, the offense has started to move better, and last week’s season-high 467 yards against Mississippi State showed stretches of real control.
The question now is whether that performance was the start of something or just another flash in a season that has already swung plenty of ways. ESPN’s FPI gives Oklahoma a 3.3 percent chance to make the playoff, which is right in line with where the Sooners sat last year after a midseason loss to Ole Miss.
The path from here is simple on paper and messy in practice: either Oklahoma keeps rolling through a manageable stretch and finishes 9-3, or the roller coaster keeps going and the losses pile up.
A lot of that tension lands on Tate Sandell. Last year’s Lou Groza winner has had an uneven season, missing some kicks early before seeming to settle in against Texas.
After a 50-yard miss, he came back and made basically the same kick, then delivered the walk-off against the Longhorns to send the Golden Hat north of the Red River. That looked like the reset point.
Instead, he missed three field goals last week, all in the same direction, and kept the game tighter than it needed to be. In a game that projects to be close again, Oklahoma needs its kicker to look like the version that finished last season, not the one that has made things harder than they should be.
South Carolina brings a different kind of problem with LaNorris Sellers. The 6-foot-3, 238-pound quarterback has thrown for 1,548 yards and 13 touchdowns while adding 507 rushing yards and four more scores.
He just put together a big night in the Gamecocks’ upset of No. 11 Tennessee, throwing for 210 yards and a touchdown and running for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
Oklahoma’s defense knows exactly what kind of challenge that is, and several players have already seen him twice. The best answer is to make Sellers one-dimensional.
When his legs are taken away, he has shown he can get careless, and that opens the door for turnovers.
For Oklahoma, the offense can’t settle for a string of field goals and expect that to be enough. That was part of the problem against Mississippi State, and it’s the kind of thing that can’t carry over against South Carolina.
The Sooners need an explosive play early, whether that comes through Isaiah Sategna, Manny Choice, Lloyd Avant or Tory Blaylock. A big gain in the opening drives would ease the load on John Mateer and help loosen up the offense for the rest of the afternoon.
Oklahoma has been better at creating those plays this season, but Saturday may be the most important time yet for one to hit.
And when mistakes happen, they have to stop there. Rocky Beers’ fumble last week turned a promising drive into Mississippi State’s first touchdown, but the offense answered by getting three points back and moving on.
That kind of response matters. The Sooners can’t let one error turn into a chain reaction against South Carolina.
They’re going to miss on some plays. They may even give the ball away.
What they cannot do is let one mistake snowball into several more.
In Other News...
Oklahomas Offensive Collapse Just Raised A Bigger Brent Venables Question
Oklahomas 42-25 loss to South Carolina was the kind of night that leaves a coaching staff with more questions than answers, and the Sooners offense was at the center of it. Brent Venables watched his team struggle to keep pace for much of the game while LaNorris Sellers put together a dominant performance for the Gamecocks, throwing for 301 yards and three touchdowns and adding 96 rushing yards with two more scores.
Venables was asked afterward about possible coaching changes, but he declined to get into that topic after the defeat. For a program trying to steady itself, the bigger issue now is whether this was just a bad offensive night or a sign that something more significant has to change before the season moves on. [Read more 🡒]
Sooners Fans Turned On The Offense As Pressure Mounted Fast
The frustration inside Norman was hard to miss as the Sooners offense labored through a 42-25 home loss to South Carolina, a game that left fans voicing their displeasure from the stands. Oklahoma never found much rhythm, even with John Mateer finishing 26 of 43 for 244 yards and two touchdowns, and the pressure only grew as the night wore on against a Gamecocks team that kept answering with big plays.
South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers helped keep the Sooners on their heels with both passing and rushing touchdowns, turning a difficult evening into a lopsided one. For Oklahoma, the defeat marked its second consecutive home loss for the first time since 2024, and the timing makes the next stretch even more important as the Sooners turn to Florida on November 7. [Read more 🡒]
Sooners Loss To South Carolina Raised A Bigger Problem Than One Bad Night
The loss to South Carolina at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium was ugly enough on its own, but the bigger concern for Oklahoma was how many parts of the offense seemed to be fighting the same battle at once. Quarterback Mateer finished 26 of 43 for 244 yards and two touchdowns, yet the night also brought decision-making issues and protection problems that made it hard for the Sooners to settle in and build any rhythm.
Oklahomas ground game never really gave the offense a way to reset, with no running back topping 32 yards, and the offensive line spent much of the night dealing with South Carolinas defense and its own penalties. One bad result can be shrugged off in a long season, but this was the kind of performance that leaves the Sooners with a lot more to sort through than the final score alone. [Read more 🡒]