If defense were everything, Sooners were fantastic against Gamecocks … but it's not
Impossible and astounding defense makes up for a lot of flaws and if Oklahoma football coach Brent Venables failed to realize it on his way out of South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium, let us hope it comes to him by, say, Monday, when the Sooners return to the practice field to prepare for Ole Miss, the first of their end-of-season murderers’ row, Tennessee and Alabama to follow.
Let’s talk about that defense.
On the way to a 26-7 Saturday victory, the Gamecocks put their only points on the board after turning first-and-goal at the 2 into fourth-and-goal at the 2, before netting a touchdown when LaNorris Sellers found Nick Harbor in the end zone, despite the play appearing to break down after the snap.
Already South Carolina had faced first-and-goal at the 9, only to reach third-and-goal from the 3, only to face fourth-and-goal from the 5, before turning the ball over on downs.
If not for those two drives, the Gamecocks might have gone almost nowhere at all.
They gained the grand sum of 224 yards of total offense, averaging 1.6 per carry and 3.3 per play. They were victimized by six Sooner sacks and 13 tackles for loss.
They didn’t land their first third-down conversion until the fourth quarter when the game was mostly out of reach, and though it led to another third-down conversion, followed by a fourth-down conversion, moving the ball across midfield to the Sooner 46, the drive ended at the Gamecock 45 after Sellers found Rahsul Faison for 17 yards facing fourth-and-36 from the Gamecock 28.
Crazy.
Though OU suffered a three-and-out after getting the ball back, Mateer’s fourth-and-6 pooch punt went 40 yards and was downed at the 1.
On the next snap, to nobody’s surprise, Markus Strong stopped South Carolina running back Matt Fuller in the end zone, yielding OU’s second forced safety of the season.
Though I didn’t care for it at the time, every Sooner fan should be thankful Venables chose to become his own defensive coordinator.
By his unit’s efforts, OU’s yielded only six touchdowns this season, which is terrific to begin with and beyond fabulous given the Sooners’ prior-to-Saturday turnover issues.
Rejoice.
Ir’s hard to lose when you don’t give up points and but for an egg laid in Dallas, OU has allowed only 43 in its other six games.
Salute.
Also, this can’t be the Sooners’ zenith, cannot be good enough, cannot be all you want from this team.
Defensively, sure, but it’s not everything.
Do you realize OU went 75 yards to score seven points on its first drive, but netted just two more touchdowns its next 10 drives?
Or that on the day Ben Arbuckle pulled 136 first-half yards out of his running game at 7.2 per pop and 171 rushing yards total, Mateer passed for a season low 150 yards and the Sooners picked up only 319.
How can that be?
How do you get the thing you haven’t gotten all season long only for the other half of your offense to take a dive?
Given the running game’s arrival, OU should have gained betwen 400 and 500 yard offense against a not remotely healthy Gamecock defense.
While Arbuckle found a way to run the ball, a bit of a miracle given all that failed to occur before, is there a reason he abandoned any type of vertical passing game?
He has the quarterback, doesn’t he?
Prior to Saturday, I thought he might employ a short-passing game to operate around OU’s ground woes.
Surprise, he didn’t need to given Tori Blaylock’s 19-carry, 101-yard day and Xavier Robinson’s 11-carry, 58-yard day, and still it was the only passing game he attempted.
Mateer’s 20-yard third-quarter throw-catch-and-run scoring toss to Isiah Sategna was the Sooners’ longest play from scrimmage.
A week ago, to watch it, OU dominated Texas the length of the first half, yet led just 6-3.
This time, the Sooners dominated the Gamecocks the length of the first half, yet led just 14-7.
The whole point of dominating, of course, is to have it be reflected on the scoreboard, yet for two straight weeks it hasn’t happened.
None of which should put a damper on a 19-point victory on the SEC road.
Just as long as the Sooners also understand what Saturday in Columbia wasn’t.
Venables said a great thing near the end of his postgame opening statement.
“We know that we have a good football team,” he said.
So, they do.
They didn’t crater.
They started fast.
They didn’t turn it over.
Defense was outstanding.
Nor, though they hint at it sometimes, do they have a great team.
Perhaps they’ll get there.
Saturday was a step.
Not quite a leap.