Winners and losers: Oklahoma Sooners have one of their most complete games of the season in first true road test

Sooners' winners and losers vs. South Carolina

Winner: DE Taylor Wein

I've already written an individual story on him, but I think it has to be said how good he was. On the first defensive drive of the game for the Sooners, Wein was there to get the stop and force the turnover on downs at the goal line.

Later, on another fourth down, but this time in the second half, South Carolina attempted a fake punt, and Wein intercepted the pass, putting the Sooners in immediate field goal position. That interception by Wein led to an eventual touchdown by the offense. He put pressure on the pocket all day long, and even dropped back into coverage a few times.

Sooners DE Taylor Wein’s stats in 2025

• 3.5 sacks, second on the team behind R Mason Thomas.
• 19 total tackles, sixth on the teeam.
• 10.5 tackles for loss.

Loser: WR Elijah Thomas

This one has nothing to do with offense, as he only played a few snaps at the end there. And when he did play offense, he didn't do much of anything. However, since it's so hard to find the guys who did badly, I have to point out one bad moment. On special teams, Thomas was flagged for a penalty that just cannot happen, and it helped South Carolina out a bit.

Winner: RBs coach DeMarco Murray

The guy finally found his 1-2 punch, and he didn't constantly keep taking RBs out of the game who were on a roll, and take those guys out of their rhythm. He had a great game managing his RBs, including finally finding that 1-2 punch with true freshman Tory Blaylock and then RB Xavier Robinson. He had been searching for that all year long, and the Sooneers had their best rushing game of the season. Fans haven't been happy with Murray, but he had a good coaching game.

Loser: QB John Mateer

The stat sheet won't read anything crazy, but he played a pretty good game. Well, outside of a few of the throws he made that should have been interceptions but were just dropped by South Carolina defenders, he had about three or four of those, and when you play teams like Texas, or the Alabama Crimson Tide, Ole Miss Rebels next week, etc, they will intercept those kinds of passes. Mateer still has an issue using his eyes, and it's got to get fixed.

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