Oklahoma's RBs Turn Things Around, Lead Positional Grades After Win at South Carolina

Oklahoma bounced back from its loss to Texas in a big way Saturday, knocking off South Carolina 26-7 to secure bowl eligibility for the 27th consecutive season.

The 14th-ranked Sooners did it by doing the things they’ve done all season, like playing strong defense, and doing things they hadn’t done well, like showing depth in the running game.

Here’s Sooners On SI's position-by-position grades for Oklahoma for the win over the Gamecocks:

Quarterbacks: B+

John Mateer was much better than he was a week ago, when he threw three interceptions in the loss to Texas.

Mateer wasn’t flashy, but he didn’t need to be against the Gamecocks.

He finished 18-of-26 for 150 yards and a touchdown. Mateer ran eight times for 14 yards as well.

Most importantly, Mateer avoided turnovers as the Sooners finished without a giveaway for the second time this season.

Mateer narrowly avoided an interception late in the second quarter on a third-down incompletion that was intended for Isaiah Sategna, but largely kept his team out of bad positions.

On the Sooners’ first offensive drive of the season half, Mateer’s helmet popped off.

With the hope still being to redshirt backup Michael Hawkins Jr., third-string quarterback Whitt Newbauer came on for one play. Newbauer handed off to Tory Blaylock for a 1-yard gain before Mateer re-entered.

Newbauer came on again in the closing minutes after the Sooners stretched the lead to 26-7.

Running Backs: A

How about this turnaround?

OU has struggled to move the ball on the ground, period, but especially with running backs, all season.

But Saturday, both freshman Tory Blaylock and sophomore Xavier Robinson — who has become the Sooners’ clear No. 2 back — were effective.

Blaylock finished with 19 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown, the best performance by an OU running back this season. (He had 14 carries for 100 yards and two TDs at Temple.)

Robinson finished with 11 carries for 58 yards and a score.

Coming into the game, the Sooners had just two performances by running backs of 50 or more yards rushing — Blaylock’s 100 yards at Temple and his 78 yards vs. Kent State.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: B

Isaiah Sategna was strong once again, leading the Sooners with seven catches for 73 yards and a touchdown — a 20-yarder late in the third quarter that went a long way to putting the game away.

With Keontez Lewis unavailable, Javonnie Gibson made his first start with the Sooners and finished with five catches for 24 yards.

Whether it was because of what South Carolina was giving OU defensively, accommodating Mateer’s hand, or blocking, the Sooners didn’t take many deep shots.

Tight end Jaren Kanak had just one catch for 16 yards, while Deion Burks had just two catches for 19 yards.

Offensive Line: B

Starting tackle Michael Fasusi had a bit of a rough start, being called for a pair of holding calls and an illegal formation call in the first half.

The latter, called for not being lined up on the line of scrimmage, was ultimately declined.

But the group overcame those penalties, and the offense as a whole wasn’t flagged at all in the second half.

The group cleared holes for Blaylock and Robinson and helped hold the Gamecocks defense — granted without star defensive end Dylan Stewart for much of the game — to just one sack of Mateer.

Defensive Line: A

The Sooners came in leading the nation in tackles for loss per game, and exceeded that average with 13 against LaNorris Sellers and the Gamecocks.

Seven of those, and 3.5 of the defense’s six sacks, came from the defensive front.

Taylor Wein had two tackles for loss and his first career interception, and R Mason Thomas had 1.5 sacks.

The group played a big role in holding South Carolina to just 3-of-15 on third downs, including 1-of-8 on third downs of four yards or less.

Wein already had a huge impact, chasing down Sellers from behind on fourth-and-goal early to keep South Carolina from tying it.

Linebackers: A

This group figured to be tested, with Sellers putting pressure on the linebackers in both the passing game and quarterback run game.

The Sooners kept Sellers scrambling the whole game, and Kendal Daniels helped set the tone defensively on OU’s first defensive drive of the game with his stop of Rahsul Faison for a 2-yard loss on third-and-goal from the 3, just before Wein made his big early stop.

Daniels finished with six tackles and a sack, and Sammy Omosigho added five tackles.

Secondary: B+

The Sooners held Sellers to just 124 passing yards on 17-of-25 passing, and several of the sacks came thanks to strong coverage on the back end.

OU was flagged for three pass interference penalties, including two on back-to-back plays just before the Gamecocks’ lone score of the game, but South Carolina had just three passing plays longer than 15 yards and none longer than 19 yards.

Jacobe Johnson picked off a pass in the closing minutes for the second takeaway of the game and just the fourth of the season for the OU defense.

Perhaps the biggest development on the back end was the injury to Gentry Williams.

Williams was hurt early, looked briefly like he would return after coming back from the locker room, but was ultimately seen on the sidelines with a sling.

Though Courtland Guillory has performed well, and Eli Bowen has returned, losing Williams would put a severe crimp in OU’s cornerback depth, particularly with Kendal Dolby’s status moving forward in question after Dolby missed Saturday’s game.

Special Teams: B

It was far from perfect.

Punter Grayson Miller shanked an 18-yard punt in the second quarter that helped set up South Carolina’s touchdown, and the punt coverage struggled again.

Elijah Thomas was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty in the second quarter and OU was later flagged for a block in the back on another punt return.

The Sooners looked like they’d caught a break with the injury to Vicari Swain, but Swain fought through it to average 18 yards on three returns.

But there was also plenty of good.

South Carolina tried a fake punt late in the third quarter that was intercepted by Wein, setting up Mateer’s touchdown pass to Sategna a few plays later.

Tate Sandell hit a 55-yard field goal late in the third, his third field goal longer than 50 yards this season.

Sandell is now 12-of-13 on field goals this season.

Mateer came up with a big special teams play late, with a 40-yard punt to pin the Gamecocks at the 1, a punt that helped lead to a safety a play later.

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