Oklahoma Stock Report Trending Way Up After OU Dominates South Carolina

The Oklahoma defense was back and better than ever. The Sooner offense finally found a running game. And the OU special teams made one winning play after another.

The end result was a dominating 26-7 victory over South Carolina on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia.

Seven days after struggling to move the football at all against Texas, the Sooners’ long-moribund rushing attack faced a stout Gamecock defense — and somehow thrived.

Led by hard-running freshman Tory Blaylock (101 yards and a touchdown) and powerful Xavier Robinson (58 yards and a score), offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle used a little more up-tempo, a little more spread — and got a lot more offensive production at the line of scrimmage.

It’s the first time that Oklahoma has scored three touchdowns in a Southeastern Conference game, and it’s the Sooners’ second-ever SEC road win — their first since last year’s conference opener at Auburn.

Quarterback John Mateer’s surgically repaired thumb looked just fine, and after participating in all the important practice reps, so did his processing and his decision-making.

Mateer utilized a short-throw game plan, completing 18-of-26 for 150 yards and a touchdown with zero interceptions, but his best play was a 40-yard pooch punt in the fourth quarter that was killed at the 1-yard line and set up the Sooners’ second safety of the season, a tackle in the end zone by Markus Strong with 4:22 to play.

Defensively, it was another clinic from Brent Venables’ unit. The Gamecocks started 0-for-10 on third down conversions and had just 167 yards total offense midway through the fourth quarter (they finished with 224). Quarterback LaNorris Sellers’ reputation outperformed his game as the Sooners collected six sacks and 13 tackles for loss — eight in the first half alone. The multi-talented Sellers had almost no time to throw and no room to run, finishing with 124 yards passing (17-of-25) and minus-9 yards rushing (14 carries).

The surprise star, though, was the OU offensive line.

Right tackle Derek Simmons was back from injury, left tackle Michael Fasusi was mostly dominant on his side, and left guard Heath Ozaeta, center Jake Maikkula and right guard Febechi Nwaiwu had no issues against a fearsome South Carolina defensive front that lost star pass rusher Dylan Stewart early in the first quarter and had no answers.

Against Auburn, the Sooners managed just 32 yards rushing and averaged 1.2 yards per carry. Against Texas, OU ran for 48 yards and averaged just 1.4 yards per carry.

But against South Carolina, Oklahoma gained 171 yards on the ground and averaged 4.3 yards per carry. By halftime, OU had 136 rushing yards and averaged 6.1 yards per carry.

The OU o-line may have showed up at just the right time to resurrect their long-dormant running game ahead of a five-game finishing stretch in which all five opponents are currently ranked in the top 16 of this week’s AP Top 25.

The next test begins next Saturday in Norman, when No. 5-ranked Ole Miss comes to town.

Here’s the Sooners’ stock report against the Gamecocks:

UP: RB Tory Blaylock

Blaylock ran over South Carolina tacklers like they were tackling dummies. He finished with his second 100-yard effort of the season, punctuated by his 18-yard scoring run to kick things off. He ran it 19 times and was not thrown for a loss.

UP: OU Offensive Line

Blaylock gets the flowers for his big numbers — he had 82 yards on 13 carries (6.3 yards per carry) in the first half alone — but it was the much-maligned OU offensive line that put together its best stretch of football all season.

In just the first half behind LT Michael Fasusi, LG Heath Ozaeta, C Jake Maikkula, RG Febechi Nwaiwu, and RT Derek Simmons (back from injury last week against Texas), OU mounted 233 yards total offense — 97 passing and 136 rushing.

That halftime rushing total was 56 yards more than the Sooners had in both the Auburn game and the Texas game combined.

UP: QB John Mateer

Whether it was rust or the thumb, Mateer was clearly off last week in Dallas. But he was sharp early against the Gamecocks, completing 4-of-5 throws on the Sooners’ first scoring drive and connecting on 5-of-7 on the second TD march. In the third quarter, he hit 2-of-3 on the field goal drive, and went 2-of-2 on the touchdown drive.

Mateer’s 20-yard touchdown to Isaiah Sategna put OU up 24-7 with 2:06 to play.

His fourth-down 40-yard punt, however, was a thing of beauty and led directly to two points for the OU defense.

DOWN: CB Gentry Williams

Williams chased down burly Rahsul Faison at the end of a 38-yard run — saving a touchdown in the process — but sustained some kind of injury and was actually calling for the medical team before he even hit the grass at Williams-Brice Stadium. He grabbed his left wrist, although it appeared at times as though the medical team was tending to the same shoulder that has bothered him for two years. Williams appeared ready to play and eventually did return to game action.

UP: Taylor Wein

While the Oklahoma defensive line was like the Atlantic tides pounding South Carolina with one punishing wave after another, it was Wein who did the most damage as OU set the tone in the first half.

Wein had two huge tackles for loss before halftime — one on fourth-and-5, one on third-and-6 — and then in the third quarter he came up with an interception on a fake punt on fourth down.

He finished with four tackles, two TFLs and the INT.

UP: K Tate Sandell

After the OU offenses bogged down midway through the third quarter, Sandell came in to rescue the possession with a 55-yard field goal that pushed the Sooners’ lead to 17-7 with 6:01 on the clock.

It was Sandell’s 12th consecutive field goal this season after opening 2025 with a miss.

DOWN: Elijah Thomas, Owen Heinecke

Within the span of about four plays, both Thomas and Heinecke were flagged for unnecessary roughness. Both guys slung a South Carolina player to the ground after and incurred 15-yard infractions. That’s 30 free yards for the Gamecocks, who struggled to move the football for the entire first half outside of their first drive (goal line stop) and their last drive (a touchdown that cut it to 14-7.

Brent Venables loves a little extra fire from his players, but can’t abide playing after the whistle and outside the sidelines.

UP: Kendal Daniels

Daniels rose up and played arguably his best game of the season with a number of big plays in crucial short-yardage situations.

In the first quarter, he made a hard stop on Faison for a gain of 2, then later in the drive stuffed Faison for a loss of 2 on thrid-and-3.

In the second quarter, he dropped Matt Fuller for no gain on third-and-1, setting up Wein’s fourth-down stop.

In the third quarter, Daniels smashed Faison again on third-and-1.

He finished with six tackles, two TFLs and a sack.

DOWN: Early Discipline

Thomas and Heinecke were the most visible of a big problem Saturday. Discipline in a tense road setting may have been a weakness for the Sooners after last week’s disappointment. Oklahoma was flagged nine times in the first half (eight accepted), while South Carolina didn’t draw one penalty.

OU finished with 10 penalties for 98 yards — something that will need to be cleaned up moving forward.

UP: RB Xavier Robinson

Robinson got four touches last week against Texas, then backed up Blaylock with starter ability and may have shocked the South Carolina defense a little. Robinson ran five times for 49 yards in the first half alone, highlighted by a 25-yard burst and a 10-yard touchdown — on which he bobbled the handoff, brought it in and then either evaded or ran through five different defenders on his way to the end zone to give Oklahoma a 14-0 lead with 9:21 to play in the second quarter.

DOWN: P Grayson Miller

The nation’s leader at 51.0 yards per punt was called on twice in the first half and kicked his first one 42 yards, but then, trying to avoid dangerous return man Vicari Swain, nubbed his second one out of bounds for an 18-yard kick that set up South Carolina at the OU 47-yard line and set up the Gamecocks’ first touchdown.

UP: CB Jacobe Johnson

Saved the second-half shutout with an interception in the end zone off backup QB Cutter Woods, OU’s second takeaway of the day.