South Carolina rides electric first quarter to easy road win over Oklahoma

If there ever existed a title of “best five and a half minutes of South Carolina football,” the start of the game against Oklahoma in Norman might take the cake. 

The Gamecocks needed a win to avoid dropping to 3-4 on the season, and they earned it in convincing fashion. They picked up a 35-9 win over the Sooners on Saturday.

On the first play of the game, Nick Emmanwori picked off Michael Hawkins, Jr., and it was all Gamecocks from then on out. 

[See what other fans are saying on The Insiders Forum!]

LaNorris Sellers led the offense down the field en route to a Rocket Sanders touchdown, and the Gamecocks were up 7-0. Two plays after kicking it back off to the Sooners, Demetrius Knight Jr. stripped Hawkins, Tonka Hemingway scooped it up, and the big man ran 36 yards to the house to put the Gamecocks up 14-0 just three and a half minutes into the game. 

After the subsequent kickoff back to Oklahoma, the Sooners ran the ball three times before dropping back to pass. That decision proved costly, as Dylan Stewart hit Hawkins as he threw the ball. The pass ended up in the hands of Nick Emmanwori for the second time in five minutes of game time, and the junior safety ran back his fourth interception of the season for a touchdown.

[Join GamecockCentral for fast, accurate, and in-depth coverage of Gamecock sports and recruiting]

With 9:40 remaining in the first quarter, the Gamecocks were already ahead 21-0. South Carolina would lead for the remainder of the game. 

“When you can score like that on defense, particularly to start the game, that is a great way to start the game on the road in the SEC,” Shane Beamer said.

When the Sooners got the ball back after the kickoff, it was Jackson Arnold in at quarterback for Oklahoma. Brent Venables made the decision to swap signal callers out despite it burning Arnold’s redshirt. 

To Arnold’s credit, the quarterback settled the offense down, but the damage from the South Carolina defense had been done. For the next four alternating drives, both offenses stagnated, with neither team managing to cross the 50-yard line. 

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Texas A&M football game]

On Oklahoma’s first drive of the second quarter, after lining up in a punt formation, the Sooners attempted to execute a fake from their own 30-yard line. But Demetrius Knight, Jr., who already had a forced fumble on the day, ran through the blockers to make the tackle and set up the Gamecocks with plus field position on the Oklahoma 25-yard line. 

“It goes back to what we preach, you know, be who we are, go back to the details,” Knight said. “If you see something’s off, especially on fourth down, especially on a special teams play, go with your gut.”

However, the Gamecocks offense couldn’t move the ball, gaining four yards in three plays and settling for a 39-yard field goal from Alex Herrera, moving the score to 24-0 in favor of the road team. 

After subsequent three-and-outs from both teams, Oklahoma responded with their first solid drive of the day, courtesy of Jackson Arnold. However, on 3rd-and-10 from the South Carolina 19-yard line, Tonka Hemingway brought down Arnold for a sack, just one of nine sacks the Gamecocks managed in Norman on Saturday. Oklahoma was able to convert the field goal to put the Sooners on the board, but the margin remained large at 24-3. 

“Like I said before the season…I think I said we’re going to have a historic defense, and I said that confidently,” Nick Emmanwori said. “We got dogs all over.”

[On3 App: Get South Carolina push notifications from GamecockCentral]

South Carolina responded with a touchdown drive capped by a LaNorris Sellers touchdown pass to a wide-open Joshua Simon from 33 yards out.

“They squeezed out on the back, faked the option pitch, and the backer jumped down and ran past Josh,” Sellers said.

To add insult to injury for the Sooners, Maurice Brown ran the ball in for a two-point conversion to bring the score to 32-3. 

With the ball at the Oklahoma 28-yard line and four seconds on the clock in the first half, South Carolina lined up for a field goal but sent Kai Kroeger out on a rollout to throw to Brady Hunt on a fake. It was unsuccessful, however, with Billy Bowman Jr. forcing an incompletion, leaving the halftime score at 32-3. 

The second half was largely uneventful, with the South Carolina offense content to run the clock down and the South Carolina defense attacking the Sooners offense with the same level of intensity. 

“Defense in general is about effort…I never have to motivate my guys to play hard,” Beamer said.

On 3rd-and-14 from their own 46-yard line, Oklahoma struck on their first drive of the second half, with Jackson Arnold completing a long pass down the sideline to Brenen Thompson to move the score to 32-9. The Sooners were stopped on the conversion attempt, however, keeping the margin at 23 points. 

[Newsletters: Get breaking news and analysis from GamecockCentral]

The next five total drives resulted in zero points for either team, a stretch of offensive ineptitude that spanned into the fourth quarter. On 4th-and-8 from the Gamecocks 24-yard line, Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold was dropped by Kyle Kennard, stopping the Sooners offense in their tracks and preventing a possible two-score margin from occurring. 

After a three-and-out from the Gamecocks offense, Jovantae Barnes proceeded to cough up the ball, and Bam Martin-Scott recovered. Despite not being able to move the chains, the Gamecocks still managed a field goal from Alex Herrera, moving the score to 35-9, which would be the final after Oklahoma’s next two drives ended in turnovers on downs. Former Sooner Davis Beville took the final kneels to drain the clock and move South Carolina to 4-3 (2-3) on the year. 

“Just so happy for our players to come off the heartbreak of last week and respond like we did today was really freaking awesome to watch,” Beamer said.

Next up

South Carolina will come home to prepare for a date with Texas A&M on Nov. 2 after a bye week. The kickoff time and television channel for the game is yet to be determined. It could kick off between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., the first night game at Williams-Brice since the 50-7 win over Akron. 

Discuss South Carolina football on The Insiders Forum!