Sooners’ Halloween was a night of horrors — a 42-25 loss
The band played the familiar classic horror movie music Toccata and Fugue in D minor by Bach, a dreary mist enveloped Norman and Halloween turned into a slasher movie with South Carolina’s quarterback LaNorris Sellers playing Freddy Krueger, leaving the Sooners’ 2026 season bloodied and lifeless on Owen Field.
South Carolina beat Oklahoma 42-25 in what can only be described as a nightmarish evening.
Coming into this game everyone knew of Oklahoma’s struggling offense. But an elite defense, which has played well all season (even in the three previous losses), was one saving grace which had kept the Sooners in every game and delivered the nugget of hope that OU might repeat last year’s November win spree that led them to a playoff berth.
But South Carolina drove a dagger through that hope, exploding on two big plays by Sellers — one to DJ Black in the second quarter and then to Mazeo Bennet in the fourth quarter to make it 42-16 and the blood began draining from the body.
Sellers ended the night throwing for 301 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
“We got our ass whooped tonight in every way,” Coach Brent Venables said. “Disappointing. They were the more physical team. They created explosive plays. We couldn’t get any offensive rhythm in the first half. We are not built to overcome some of the ineptness of our football team that we displayed out there. We let them throw the ball over our head, and didn’t tackle great.
It was the worst Sooners defensive performance in the Brent Venables era. They gave up 521 yards. That’s the most Oklahoma has given up since joining the SEC.
“He (Sellers) made us look foolish out there on the field,” said Owen Heinicke after the game.
The OU offense (that managed only 77 yards in the first half) continued to be inept. To the very end. With 36 seconds left in the game, on a 4th and 1 from the South Carolina 1 yard line, the Sooners were unable to push the ball 36 inches. That says all you need to know about Oklahoma’s offense this year.
Nevermind the fact John Mateer struggled again to throw the ball quickly. Or wait to long to run. Or be accurate in short dump off passes, that might have resulted in yards after catch (YACs), except the passes were so off the mark the receivers had to dive for them to make a catch.
Or see receivers so open downfield that if they were windows the drapes would be flapping out into the front yard.
I don’t know what to think or expect now. Well, wait. Yes I do.
The Sooners head off to Florida next week. Then they play a better Mississippi team at home, which could easily result in the first time since John Blake destroyed the program that the Sooners have lost three straight home games. They could then well beat Texas A&M, and then fight to upset a Missouri Tigers team in Columbia.
That would end the season at 6-6. At best. That is not a fun horror flick. Not at all.
That is what fans call a failed season in Norman. That is what causes heads to roll.
“Fire Arbuckle” chants rained down from the Oklahoma student section on Saturday. Well, until the student section left the stadium mid-way through the second half, when it was clear the Sooners had no chance to come back to win.
Venables is going to have to make some tough decisions.
One decision he will make will be the hardest. That will be replacing offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh. He’s proven himself to be a very good football coach during his career. But the last several years of offensive line woes cannot be explained away as merely coincidental injuries. The healthy linemen don’t play well either.
When I saw Coach Bedenbaaugh on the sideline in the fourth quarter Saturday night he stood far away from the rest of the team. He had no interaction with any of his linemen. Other assistants were coaching up players like they usually do, even when the game is out of hand. Talking to them. Yelling at them. Instructing them. That continued to the end of the game.
But not from Bedenbough. He is not a bad coach. He knows something is up. And the results on Saturday sealed that deal.
The other tough decision is offensive coordinator. Ben Arbuckle’s play calling has not been an issue, even though some fans may cry about it. The issue has been a quarterback to whom Arbuckle seems glued to the hip that is too slow for the high stakes SEC game.
Mateer cannot see open receivers downfield, a glaring shortcoming that all the Sooners fans in the stadium — the ones trained by the play of Jason White, Baker Mayfield, Jalen Hurts and, yes, even Landry Jones (my goodness wouldn’t Landry have had a field day throwing against the Gamecock’s secondary) — can spot as well as any ESPN color commentor.
They also wonder why Mateer was still playing in the game when it was out of reach. Why have we not seen Whitt Newbauer or true freshman Bowe Bentley? Why is Oklahoma kicking field goals late in the game instead of throwing balls into the end zone? Why, why, why?
I don’t want to be that guy who calls for any coach to be fired. There are far too many of those Monday morning coaches who call themselves Sooners fans. We don’t need any more of them.
But what is Venables to do to make a major change in the offense’s (lack of ) functionality? It is not functional now. That may be all on Mateer and the woeful offensive line. But it also is on the coach to solve the problem. Arbuckle may not be the problem. But, he has not solved it.
Will Venables solve it by looking to change his OC?
These are tough decisions for Venables. But if he doesn’t, then the restless natives will force changes no one wants.
If he doesn’t, this nightmare becomes a Halloween series on Netflix.
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