Grading all performances from South Carolina's Week 8 win over Oklahoma

Winless October is no more. South Carolina got back on track with a dominant 35-9 win at Oklahoma on Saturday.

The win marks the Gamecocks’ first in the month of October since Oct. 22, 2022, breaking a six-game losing streak.

South Carolina is now 4-3 overall and 2-3 in SEC play going into its second and final bye week of the year. The team will return to action for a five-game stretch, starting on Nov. 2 at home against Texas A&M.

As we do for each game, let’s grade each position group and the coaching staff and break down how they performed this weekend.

Quarterback: B+

It wasn’t a perfect performance for LaNorris Sellers in his sixth start of the year but it didn’t need to be. He did enough good things in this game to help lead South Carolina to victory.

The biggest positive from his outing were zero turnovers. That’s right. South Carolina didn’t turn the football over once in this game. That is a huge step in the right direction for the redshirt freshman quarterback after having a lot of issues taking care of the ball this season.

Sellers finished 16-for-24 passing for 175 yards and one touchdown. He completed 67 percent of his passes and ran for 28 yards on the ground with a long of 25. He’s not putting up elite level performances yet, but he’s doing his job and putting the offense in good spots to be successful. There’s still a lot of work to do, but he continues to look good as the schedule moves along.

In addition to Sellers, the team’s two other quarterbacks saw action in this game. Robby Ashford went 1-of-1 passing for five yards, while Shane Beamer let former OU quarterback Davis Beville kneel out the final two snaps of the game to cap off the win.

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Running back: B-

South Carolina got off to a fantastic start on offense as it drove right down the field in five plays after Nick Emmanwori’s interception on the game’s first play. Rocket Sanders ran into the end zone for a three-yard touchdown to open the scoring.

After that, there wasn’t a ton of production from the run game. Sanders only finished with 33 yards and the one score. As a team, the Gamecocks ran for 74 yards and averaged 1.8 yards per carry. They still managed to contribute and make plays when they could. It’s just there weren’t many holes to run through against Oklahoma’s stout defense.

Wide receiver: C

Maybe if South Carolina didn’t take such a commanding lead in the early going, there might have been more offense in this game. But it felt like the play calling got a bit conservative, which is fair all things considered.

As a result, there weren’t many standout performances from the receiver room. Vandrevius Jacobs led the way with four catches for 40 yards. It’s good to see him becoming more of a factor in this offense in recent weeks.

Otherwise, it was a very quiet day in that room. Mazeo Bennett and Nyck Harbor had two catches apiece for 13 yards each. Gage Larvadain had one catch for seven yards, while Dalevon Campbell also had one catch for five yards.

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Tight end: B+

While the receivers didn’t have great outings, the tight ends did. Josh Simon led the team with four catches for 43 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter to put the Gamecocks up 30-3.

Michael Smith only had one catch in this game but it was a big one as he went for 25 yards. That’s really all that happened for the tight ends, though. Other than that, the blocking still needs to be better. But they did enough to still be impactful in the game.

Offensive line: D-

It’s basically the same story every week. The offensive line struggles again and their grade is much lower than the rest of the offense as a result. That’s the case once again this week.

Again, not all sacks are made equal and not all of them are on the offensive line. But it sure looks that way when Sellers is continuously taking hits in the backfield. The Gamecocks allowed six sacks on Saturday, which isn’t as bad in comparison to Oklahoma’s O-line surrendering nine sacks (more on that later).

Toricelli Simpkins III finished with the highest PFF pass-blocking grade on the team at 88.0. But there were other who struggled immensely. Specifically at the tackle spots, Josiah Thompson and Cason Henry just haven’t been cutting it. That’s just the truth of the situation.

Last year, the excuse was that the offensive line was never fully healthy and it was a different starting five out there each week, which led to the 41 sacks given up. Well, now this year, everyone is pretty much healthy with the same starting five playing game after game. Yet, the Gamecocks are up to 32 sacks, well on their way to blowing past last season’s atrocious mark.

At this point, it just is what is. If South Carolina’s defense continues to play the way it has and the offense shows some flashes of brilliance, the bad offensive line play probably won’t matter as much.

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Defensive line: A+

There’s not too much that needs to be said here. When you force as much pressure up front as this unit does, you’re going to get some great results. And that’s what we saw on Saturday.

Six different players on the defensive line had a sack in this game. Tonka Hemingway had the big play of the day when he recovered a fumble in the first quarter and took it to the house for a 36-yard touchdown.

This is without a doubt one of the best D-lines in the country. It’s a group that continues to blow past any opposing O-lines that stand in their way. What a great performance.

Linebacker: A+

Just like many other defensive groups, this might have been the best overall performance from the linebackers this season.

Let’s start with Demetrius Knight Jr. What an impactful player this guy is. He’s not only a great leader in that locker room, but he’s also one heck of a player. He finished with 11 tackles, one sacks and two tackles for loss. He also forced two fumbles, one of which was the one recovered by Hemingway on the scoop and score. And he also snuffed out a fake punt by Oklahoma and made the big tackle to force a turnover on downs.

What a coming out game this was for Bam Martin-Scott, as well. He was everywhere in this game. He also finished with 11 tackles and had 1.5 TFLs and one sack. He also forced one fumble.

Debo Williams had nine tackles and 0.5 TFL in this game. There just isn’t much to complain about with these three guys. You know what you’ll get from them on a game by game basis. They are just a great trio of linebackers.

Secondary: A

Outside of one busted coverage by Judge Collier in the third quarter, the secondary was great in containing Oklahoma’s receivers. Did they give up some plays here and there? Yes. But there were enough impact plays to make up for any shortcomings.

Right out of the gate, Emmanwori picked off OU quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. on the first play of the game. Then two drives later, the junior defensive back was back at it with another interception thrown by Hawkins, only this time he took it the other way for a 65-yard score. Emmanwori led the way with 11 tackles and had one TFL.

The other DBs were good in this game, too. It’s just none of them had the same type of performance as Emmanwori, and that’s okay. With O’Donnell Fortune out of action for some of the game, others got a chance to step in and play. David Spaulding had two tackles with 0.5 TFL. David Bucey had a pass breakup and forced a fumble.

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Special teams: B+

Kai Kroeger was once again very solid punting the football on Saturday. He had a lot of work to do with eight total punts, but he averaged 51.6 yards per kick with six punts traveling more than 50 yards and four landing inside the 20-yard line. If only he converted on the fake field goal pass that was right there for him. It would’ve only added to his quarterback lore at South Carolina.

Alex Herrera had a better day after missing a big kick against Alabama last weekend. The sixth-year kicker went 2-for-2 on his field goals from 39 and 33 yards out.

As mentioned before, Knight had the big tackle on Oklahoma’s fake punt attempt to set up what would be Herrera’s first field goal of the game. On the play, you can see Knight running over to the intended target, OU tight end Bauer Sharp, before the ball was snapped. Just great awareness in that situation.

Last but not least, let’s talk about that two-point conversion. It was a well-designed play that proved to be effective as Maurice Brown lined up in the shotgun and took a direct snap from Vershon Lee and pummeled into the end zone to make it a 32-3 game in the second quarter. A great play for him.

Coaching: B+

You have to give this coaching staff a ton of credit for keeping the team ready to roll after being dealt a very tough loss in Tuscaloosa. There’s just something different about this year’s group. Yeah, their record is only 4-3, but they’ve played a lot better than that. And part of that has to do with the coaching.

Beamer continues to be a great leader for this team and has shown he can win some of these big games. He and his staff have been doing fantastic work on the recruiting trail. You’re starting to see some of the pieces fall into place of what this program will look like over the next few years. He’s definitely got them trending in the right direction.

What a difference a year makes for Clayton White and the defense. It was around this time last year when many were calling for him to be fired as defensive coordinator after a winless October. Now this season, he’s put South Carolina’s defense in a great position every week to be successful. Nine sacks, 13 TFLs, six forced fumbles, four turnovers. It doesn’t get much better than that.

With the offense, there’s still a lot of work to do. Obviously, not everyone has been sold on Dowell Loggains throughout this season. But he probably gets a pass in this game because the offense didn’t need to let it all out. They kept it even keel and did what they had to do to not give Oklahoma opportunities to strike. You just hope things will progress offensively as the team heads into the final month of the regular season.

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