If Oklahoma is to rebound from its disappointing Red River Rivalry loss to Texas last weekend, it will be away from home with the 5-1 Sooners playing at South Carolina (3-3, 0-3) on Saturday.
It will be OU's first SEC road game of the season, and the Sooners' first-ever game in the Palmetto State. Oklahoma and South Carolina have played just one time before, and that was a year ago in Norman. The Gamecocks prevailed in last year's game 35-9, with the Sooners turning the ball over in each of their first three possession, two of which led directly to touchdowns.
Oklahoma will be looking to avenge last year's loss, but also returning to the win column in the midst of its most difficult stretch of the season. South Carolina is the only team in the Sooners' six remaining games that is not currently ranked among the nation's top-25 teams. The Gamecocks, however, were ranked No. 13 in both the Associated Press Top 25 and Coaches Poll to begin the season.
Both teams are looking to get back to winning ways. After winning its first two games, South Carolina has lost three of its last four, all within the SEC. The Gamecocks lost 20-10 last weekend at LSU.
Oklahoma has won 35 of its last 47 true road games dating back to 2014. Eight of the 12 losses have been one-score games.
Saturday's game is scheduled for an 11:45 a.m. CT kickoff and will be televised on the SEC Network. Taylor Zarzour (play by play), Matt Stinchcomb (analysis) and Alyssa Lang (sidelines) will do the announcing.
What to know about South Carolina
- Redshirt sophomore quarterback LaNorris Sellers, a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate, leads the South Carolina offense. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound signal caller has completed 64% of his pass attempts this season for 1,010 yards and four touchdowns with two interceptions. In a nine-point loss at Missouri, he threw for a season-high 302 yards.
- South Carolina is one of four SEC teams Oklahoma has never beaten in football. The others are Ole Miss (0-2), which the Sooners host in Norman the week after South Carolina, Georgia (0-1) and Mississippi State (0-1).
- The Gamecocks rank last in the SEC offensively, averaging just 310 yards per game, and they have been victimized on defense, as well, with 339.5 yards allowed -- although they lead the SEC and are tied for eighth among FBS teams nationally with 12 takeaways, including eight interceptions. The main man on defense for South Carolina is sophomore edge rusher Dylan Stewart, who leads the team with nine tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.
- South Carolina was in a similar situation a year ago when it faced Oklahoma. The Gamecocks were 3-3 and coming off of a loss to Alabama when they came to Norman in the seventh game of the season. Although the Sooners owned the better record (4-2) coming into that game a year ago, South Carolina dominated the game and went on to win five straight games after that, including four wins over ranked teams, to finish out the regular season with a 9-3 record.
What to know about Oklahoma
- After averaging 34 points a game and a perfect 20-for-20 scoring in the red zone, the Sooners managed just two field goals and never reached the red zone in the loss to Texas. OU actually made it into the red zone one time, but it was nullified on a penalty. The Sooners had scored two or more touchdowns in every game they had played this season before.
- Returning to action just 17 days after having hand surgery to repair a broken bone in his right thumb, quarterback John Mateer had his worst outing of the season last weekend against Texas, completing just 54% of his passes for 202 yards, no touchdowns and a season- and career-high three interceptions. Despite that, Mateer continues to rank in the top-15 nationally in total offense ( 5th with 351.3 yards per game), passing yards per game (10th with 283.4 yards per game) and completions per game (11th with 23.0).
- The Oklahoma defense ranks in the top two nationally in 10 different statistical categories, including No. 1 in total defense (211.2 per game), opponents yards per play (3.8) and tackles for loss per game (10.3). OU ranks second nationally in scoring defense (9.8), passing defense (126.3), touchdowns allowed (5), rushing touchdowns allowed (2), passing touchdowns allowed (2), opponents first downs per game (11.2) and opponents plays of 10-plus yards per game (42).
- Since the start of the 1999 season, Oklahoma is 24-2 in games immediately following the annual rivalry game against Texas. The lone defeats came in 2014 (31-30 to Kansas State) and last season to South Carolina. In the 24 wins over that time, the Sooners have outscored their opponents by an average margin of 24.5 points.
Key matchup
South Carolina's ability to run the football is actually worse than Oklahoma. The Gamecocks rank 111th nationally in that category compared to 105th for the Sooners. OU ranks 10th in the country against the run, though, so not likely that South Carolina is going to run the ball effectively on Saturday. That will force Sellers to put the ball in the air to keep the offense on the field. The pressure will be on the Sooners' front seven to disrupt Sellers' rhythm and timing, and on the second-ranked Oklahoma defense to make plays on the back end.
Prediction
Oklahoma did not look good in the Red River Rivalry against Texas. Definitely a bad game for the Crimson and Cream, but just about every team is going to go through that at some point every season. This is still a really good Oklahoma team with one of the best defenses in the country, and defense travels. Look for Mateer and the Sooner offense to get things going again this week in a game that is pivotal as a character and confidence builder and how this team can be expected to perform the rest of the way.