LaNorris Sellers Accounts for Five Touchdowns as South Carolina Routs Oklahoma 42-25 in Norman

LaNorris Sellers threw a pick-six on South Carolina's first snap of the second quarter, and for about two minutes in Norman it looked like Oklahoma's defense was about to drag another opponent into the mud. Then Sellers spent the rest of the night making that mistake look like a typo.

South Carolina beat Oklahoma 42-25 on Halloween at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, piling up 521 yards against a defense that came in ranked among the best in the country. Sellers completed 19 of 24 passes for 301 yards and three touchdowns, ran for 96 yards and two more, and turned a game billed as a defensive grinder into a Gamecocks track meet.

It was South Carolina's third straight win, after beating Florida and then stunning No. 11 Tennessee 27-24 on a walk-off field goal a week earlier. It was also a little payback for last October, when Oklahoma won 26-7 in Columbia. The Gamecocks are 5-3 and 3-3 in the SEC. Oklahoma fell to 4-4 and 2-3.

Sellers Sets the Tone

Oklahoma entered allowing 17.7 points per game and ranked second nationally in third-down defense, per theScore's numbers. South Carolina treated that like a dare. The Gamecocks' first drive stalled after a Matt Fuller fumble that they recovered themselves, but the second one went 55 yards in eight plays, and Sellers capped it with a 15-yard touchdown run at 6:26 of the first quarter after ripping off a 17-yard gain earlier in the drive.

Oklahoma's offense, meanwhile, looked exactly like the unit that had not scored 30 points in six straight games. Two of the Sooners' first three possessions went three and out, false starts and holding calls kept wiping out progress, and Jacob Ulrich was the busiest player on the Oklahoma sideline by the end of the first quarter.

The Pick-Six and the Answer

The one real Oklahoma highlight came early in the second quarter. With the Oklahoma rush closing in, Sellers threw a ball that Kip Lewis intercepted and returned 30 yards for a touchdown at 14:05. Tate Sandell's extra point tied it at 7, and the crowd finally had something to scream about.

South Carolina's reply was immediate and decisive. Sellers hit Mazeo Bennett Jr. for 19 and Nyck Harbor for 36, an Oklahoma unnecessary roughness penalty added 15 more, and Christian Clark plunged in from a yard out at 11:20. Six plays, 75 yards, 2:45. The momentum swing lasted less than three minutes.

Then came the backbreaker. After an Oklahoma three and out, South Carolina needed exactly three plays to go 82 yards. On the third, Sellers found DJ Black behind the defense for an 84-yard touchdown at 9:19, and it was 21-7. Black caught one pass all night, and it was the one that changed the game.

Turning Point: The Two-Minute Drive

Oklahoma did put together its best drive of the half, a 12-play, 41-yard march that included a 13-yard run by Jonathan Hatton Jr. and stalled when South Carolina sacked John Mateer for a 4-yard loss. Sandell bailed the Sooners out with a 52-yard field goal at 2:49, and at 21-10 Oklahoma was within reach going into the break.

South Carolina made sure it was not. Starting at its own 25 with 2:49 left, the Gamecocks went 75 yards in eight plays. Isaiah Augustave ran for 17, Sellers scrambled for 30, and with 16 seconds left Sellers threw an 8-yard touchdown to Harbor. Instead of an 11-point game at halftime, it was 28-10, and Oklahoma's offense was not built to come back from 18.

That drive was the difference between a contest and a coronation. Oklahoma's defense had been on the field for long stretches, and the Gamecocks used the final three minutes of the half to break it.

Second Half: Sellers Keeps Running

Oklahoma's defense did get one stop to open the third quarter, when Michael Boganowski broke up one Sellers throw and then intercepted another at the Oklahoma 18, ending a 10-play drive built on Jabree Coleman runs of 16 and 11 yards. It was Sellers' second interception, and it only delayed the inevitable.

Sellers punished them anyway. Late in the third quarter he scored on an 11-yard run at 2:04 to push the lead to 35-10. Oklahoma finally found the end zone on offense when Mateer hit Ivan Carreon for a 34-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, but the two-point try failed. On South Carolina's next possession, Sellers dropped a 79-yard touchdown to Bennett at 13:13. Oklahoma answered with an 11-play drive that ended in a 34-yard Sandell field goal at 9:46. With backup Cutter Woods now running the South Carolina offense, the Gamecocks punted, and Mateer drove the Sooners 74 yards in 11 plays before finding Carreon again from 10 yards out at 2:59. The two-point try failed again. Oklahoma appeared to recover Sandell's onside kick, but an Oklahoma illegal block wiped it out, and South Carolina fell on the rekick at the Oklahoma 30 with 2:58 left. Clark ran three times for a net of 1 yard, and on fourth-and-9 Woods threw into the end zone, where Markel Ford intercepted it for a touchback. Mateer then drove Oklahoma from its own 20 to the South Carolina 1, but the Gamecocks stopped the Sooners on fourth-and-goal with 39 seconds left.

The Numbers That Matter

South Carolina ran for 212 yards on 44 carries and threw for 309. Sellers led the ground game with 96 yards on 13 carries, and Coleman added 62 on 13. Bennett finished with four catches for 107 yards and a score, and Harbor had three for 56 and a touchdown. South Carolina converted 8 of 14 third downs against a defense that had allowed opponents to convert only about 24 percent of the time.

Oklahoma managed 359 total yards. Mateer went 26 of 43 for 244 yards and two touchdowns to Carreon, and ran 11 times for 29 yards. The Sooners rushed 31 times for 115 yards, and Tory Blaylock led them with 32 yards on six carries. Carreon finished with five catches for 88 yards and both touchdowns, and Rocky Beers added four for 51. Isaiah Sategna III, the All-SEC receiver from a year ago, had four catches for 13.

The scoreboard flattered Oklahoma's offense, too. Seven of the Sooners' 25 points came from Lewis' interception return. That makes seven straight games under 30 points for an offense that Brent Venables spent the week saying had to clean up its red zone execution. "Again, just get out of our own way and execute with great precision," Venables told reporters during the week, according to News 9. On Saturday, the Sooners did not get there consistently until the game was already gone.

Fred Johnson led South Carolina with 11 tackles and a sack, and Justin Okoronkwo added nine stops. Owen Heinecke and Courtland Guillory each made 10 tackles for Oklahoma.

What It Means

For South Carolina, this is what a turnaround looks like. A team that started SEC play with losses to Mississippi State, Alabama and Kentucky has now beaten Florida, Tennessee and Oklahoma in consecutive weeks, and Sellers is playing like the quarterback NFL scouts circled before the season. The Gamecocks are suddenly one of the hottest teams in the league, which is exactly what Venables called them before kickoff. Next up is Texas A&M in Columbia on Nov. 7, followed by trips to Arkansas and Clemson around a home date with Georgia.

For Oklahoma, the problem is the same one it has been for a month. The defense can keep the Sooners in games against most teams, but it cannot also score enough for an offense that rarely moves the ball. Against a quarterback who can beat you with both his arm and his legs, Oklahoma did not have an answer, and a .500 record on Halloween means every remaining game now carries bowl implications. Next up is a trip to Florida on Nov. 7, then home games against Ole Miss and Texas A&M before the finale at Missouri.

Closing Take

South Carolina came into Norman as the underdog against one of the best defenses in the country and left with 42 points and 521 yards. Sellers threw two interceptions, and he answered both by playing the best football of anyone on the field. If the Gamecocks keep getting this version of their quarterback, the back half of their schedule looks a lot less scary than the front half did.

Box score: ESPN box score (opens in a new tab).

Sources: ESPN box score and play-by-play, theScore, Sports Illustrated, News 9. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: South Carolina Athletics.