The Oklahoma Sooners have a big opportunity to right the ship with a tough matchup against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday.
On the surface, you might say, “South Carolina? Tough?” Yeah. This is a team that beat Kentucky, who beat Ole Miss in Oxford. These Gamecocks were a two-point conversion attempt away from sending their game with Alabama to overtime. In Tuscaloosa. The Gamecocks played LSU to a three loss. South Carolina had the lead until the final minutes of their loss to the Tigers.
Shane Beamer has them playing tough regardless of opponent. Although they were blown out by Ole Miss, they’re a better team than they showed on that day in Columbia.
It’s a tough matchup for a Sooners team hoping to rebound from their blowout loss to the Texas Longhorns. So what do they need to do to pick up the win? Let’s check out this week’s keys to the game.
1. Get the Ground Game Going
The best way to take the pressure off of your young starting quarterback is to find an effective running game. The best way to neutralize an elite pass rush is to find an effective running game. Ipso facto, Oklahoma needs to find an effective running game.
That may be a tall ask at this point in the season as the Sooners have struggled throughout and are one of the worst rush offenses in the country. At the same time, there have been positive signs in each of the last two games. Yes, even against Texas.
After Oklahoma forced a three-and-out on the Longhorns’ second drive, the Sooners opened up with a three-yard run by Gavin Sawchuk, followed by an eight-yard run by Jovantae Barnes for a first down. From that point, Seth Littrell had Michael Hawkins throw it on three straight plays, one of which turned into a 13-yard sack knocking them out of Texas’ side of the field and ultimately forcing them to punt.
A three-yard run might not be much to write home about, but getting to second-and-seven gives you more options than throwing incomplete on first down and being in second-and-10.
Second and third-and-long is a place Oklahoma doesn’t want to be in against the Gamecocks. They can get after the passer as well as anyone in the country with their talented defensive front. South Carolina can get home with just four, so they can drop seven into coverage and make Hawkins dink and dunk. But if the Sooners can grind out some yards in the run game, it may force the Gamecocks to commit more defenders to the box on early downs.
The dirty, three-yard runs can be effective. Just keep churning them out and grinding away. While there’s been a lot of talk about explosive plays, Oklahoma simply needs to move the ball. If it’s only three and four yards at a time, so be it.
Sure, a lot of the outcome of this game does ride on the quarterback, but the Sooners need to get the run game going. Lean on Jovantae Barnes, Gavin Sawchuk, Taylor Tatum, and an offensive line that’s coming together instead of putting everything on your young quarterback.