Numbers revealing good, bad and ugly of Sooners' Saturday showdown with South Carolina

With all the negative headlines and criticisms that have been directed at Oklahoma football and, in particular, the anemic Sooner offense this season, entering Week 8 of the 2024 season, OU stands 4- up and 2 down in the win-loss column with a good chance going to 5-2 with a win over South Carolina on Saturday.

That's certainly something good -- for the time being, anyway -- but too many of the numbers that have told the story of Oklahoma's first three SEC conference games have been on the bad, even ugly, side.

Here's a quick look at Saturday's game with South Carolina by a few key numbers:

3.17 -- Average sacks per game by both OU and South Carolina, tied for 10th best nationally.

4.5 -- Average yards per play on offense by Oklahoma through six games. This compares with 7.0 yards per play just a couple of years ago.

14.0 -- Turnovers gained by Oklahoma this season, tied for seventh best nationally.

26.8 -- Oklahoma's success rate on third-down conversion attempts. The Sooners rank 130th out of 134 FBS teams in this category.

46.1 -- Average punt yardage by Oklahoma punter Luke Elzinga this season. That ranks second in the SEC and 6th best in the country. Kai Kroeger of South Carolina leads the SEC and is No. 3 in the nation this season with a 47.9 average.

165.7 -- Average passing yards per game by OU this season, 123rd among 134 FBS teams.

287.7 -- Average yards of offense by Oklahoma through six games. The Sooners led the nation in this category several times in the past decade. This season they rank a shocking 126th in the country.

109 -- Because the Sooner offense has such a poor third-down conversion rate and has been woefully ineffective in sustaining drives this season, OU is averaging nearly five minutes less possession time per game than it opponent. The Sooners rank 109th nationally in time of possession.