'Nobody accepts that in any way': Oklahoma shows inability to compete in SEC during disastrous loss to South Carolina

On both video boards of an empty Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, an advertisement for OU’s next home game against Maine, a 4-3 FCS team, was shown.

Many wouldn't have believed it during the Sooners’ energetic July 1st SEC celebration, or through all the hype leading up to Oklahoma’s inaugural season in the SEC, but seven games into the season, Maine is seemingly the last chance for the Sooners to earn their fifth win.

Their remaining schedule includes road games against No. 18 Mississippi, No. 19 Missouri and No. 8 LSU, and a home matchup against No. 7 Alabama. Assuming the Sooners can take care of business against Maine, they’d still have to win one of the remaining four contests to be bowl-eligible — a low standard for a blue-blood program like Oklahoma.

After the 35-9 beatdown OU (4-3, 1-3 SEC) suffered against an unranked South Carolina (4-3, 2-3), OU doesn’t look remotely ready to compete against the top-notch competition in the SEC.

As co-offensive coordinators Seth Littrell and Joe Jon Finley continue to sit on the hot seat, and questions about head coach Brent Venables’ ability to lead the program arise, it’s clear Oklahoma is lost in a conference it wasn’t ready to join.

“What we put out there today as a football team is nothing remotely close to the standard here at the University of Oklahoma,” head coach Brent Venables said postgame. “It’s certainly not what we planned for today. My job as the head coach is to evaluate everything and figure it out and find a way to put us in a better position to be successful.”

Each of the Sooners’ three losses has been characterized by many of the same things — an entourage of turnovers, not being able to stop the opponent’s momentum and sloppy mistakes.

Venables and Littrell have often criticized themselves for not having their players ready to play, but Saturday, Venables didn’t think that was the case. Instead, he mentioned turnovers as the biggest reason for the loss.

“We’ve got to take care of the ball,” Venables said. “Making one bad decision affects everybody, so I don't think that's fair to say that everyone else isn’t ready (to play) because of the turnovers.”

On the first play from scrimmage, freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. evaded pressure only to throw an interception. South Carolina scored its first touchdown on the ensuing drive. Hawkins followed with a fumble on the next possession, which the Gamecocks recovered and took 36 yards for a touchdown.

On both turnovers, tight ends Bauer Sharp and Jake Roberts were assigned to block South Carolina defensive linemen Kyle Kennard and Dylan Stewart. Kennard and Stewart have combined for 29 tackles and 11 sacks on the season. Unsurprisingly, Sharp and Roberts, who have struggled in pass protection all season, failed their assignments, and the pressure applied to Hawkins led to two turnovers.

The SEC Network commentators on OU's offensive scheme."One thing I absolutely hate, is having a tight end one-on-one in pass protection.""Is it enough against these defensive ends to have a tight end and a running back trying to block these guys?" pic.twitter.com/jgwKt46nW8

— 𝕺𝖐𝖑𝖆𝖍𝖔𝖒𝖆 𝖛𝖘. 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖑𝖉 (@ouvstheworld) October 19, 2024

It’s poor coaching decisions like that which led to the Oklahoma student section chanting “fire Seth” in the first quarter, before filing out and leaving a massive gap in the stadium before the fourth quarter even started.

12:50 left in the game. pic.twitter.com/I0hrydxMJZ

— Louis Raser (@LouisRaser) October 19, 2024

“I love the fans,” senior linebacker Danny Stutsman said, “But if they’re not going to be with us, then were they really fans to begin with?”

It was running back Jovantae Barnes who led a caravan of Sooners into the OU tunnel after the loss.

As he slowly strolled toward the locker room with a Gatorade towel over his head, the defeated demeanor he posed summed up Oklahoma’s first season in the SEC — a failure.

Now, with four challenging conference opponents left, the Sooners are in danger of missing a bowl game for the first time since 1998 — one year before Bob Stoops was hired. Regardless of whether the Sooners claim any moral victories the rest of the season, it appears a complete rebuild is on the horizon this offseason.

As the noise around whether Venables will continue to be OU’s coach heightens amid a historically bad season for the program, Venables knows it’s on him to get Oklahoma back to its winning ways.

“The results that we've gotten the last couple of weeks, nobody desires that, nobody wants that, nobody accepts that in any way,” Venables said. “... I hate it for our fans, people that love Oklahoma. We're not doing anything to enhance the brand and the image and what this place has represented for such a long time.

“We're falling incredibly short right now, but every single bit of it falls on my shoulders. It's my responsibility, and I’ve got to get it figured out.”