COLUMN

NORMAN — Oklahoma linebacker Owen Heinecke was succinct in his summation of the Sooners' 42-25 loss to South Carolina on Saturday at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

"Embarrassing," Heinecke said.

It certainly was.

Sooners coach Brent Venables' assessment was similar.

"We didn’t play clean, tough, physical football like we have on defense all year," Venables said. "Obviously didn’t count on that happening and put a lot of pressure on every other part of our team. And not playing to our strengths.

"We didn’t play to our strengths tonight."

The Sooners came into the game with the 11th best total defense in FBS.

The Gamecocks gained 521 yards against Oklahoma, the most allowed by Venables' group since the 2023 Red River Rivalry.

Oklahoma came into the game leading FBS in first downs allowed per game.

South Carolina picked up 22 first downs, and it could've been worse if it weren't for some explosive touchdowns.

The Sooners came in second in third-down defense.

Shane Beamer's bunch went 8 of 14 on third down and converted on one of two fourth-down tries.

Oklahoma entered eighth in passing yards allowed.

The Gamecocks torched them for 309 yards, including touchdowns of 84 and 79 yards.

The Sooners hadn't allowed more than 200 yards rushing in the regular season since their 2023 trip to BYU.

It wasn't just bad in one area for the defense, it was bad in all areas, and while the group's performance to this point certainly gives optimism that this will be the exception rather than the rule moving forward, it certainly was a cause for concern.

"I know what we're capable of, and if we're not in position, that's one issue," Venables said, specifically talking about the defense against Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers. "But if we are in position, we got to do a better job coaching them up to finish. We were in position a lot, and so really disappointed. I have to go and watch the tape, see why. But I didn't feel like we closed space great, didn't thing we took good angles, certainly we did a lot of reaching and came up empty a lot."

Perhaps the most concerning element was the tackling issues Venables alluded to.

On the first South Carolina drive of the second half, Oklahoma defenders hit running back Jabree Coleman in the backfield on third-and-3. Coleman wound up running for 16 yards.

A few plays later, Coleman was hit in the backfield again on fourth-and-2, but wound up picking up 11 yards.

"We knocked 'em backwards a lot, and I think guys just lost ‘em," Venables said. "Didn’t finish. Some of it’s their straining, some of it’s we’re knocking backwards and we’re halfway on the blocks still, and they’re doing the job finishing and we’re not doing as a good of a job on the outside in, or top down, or in the second level of assuming the guy is still not tackled. And that happened several times."

Sellers' mobility puts defenses in a difficult position.

The linebackers in particular often are caught in between and if they make the wrong decision, disasters can occur.

"We had a good plan but we didn't execute," Heinecke said. "So we're looking at the result of kind of getting our asses kicked and it's a result of all those little things that we knew were going to be a big deal. Just not good enough. Not executing. And it starts with me, so just not good enough."

The secondary had been the best piece of the defense but the group struggled across the board in moments.

"We're in position several times and played on our heels," Venables said. "... It's not good football in any way."

Now, the Sooners' defense much pick up the pieces and try to turn things back around for the four-game closing stretch of Florida, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Missouri.

"We're a great defense and we didn't do a good enough job of making the plays when they were there," Heinecke said. "We let them extend plays, we let him get outside the pocket and set up and launch on us. Explosive plays and turnovers are the two biggest parts of the game and we got our asses handed to us in the explosive play department."