Helmet stickers: South Carolina at Oklahoma

When a football team goes on the road and wins 35-9 at a blueblood program, there's going to be more than a handful of stickers to put on helmets. There's hardly a person on the South Carolina football team who doesn't deserve some decoration for his dome, and we'll pass those out here.

The Gamecocks (4-3, 2-3) jumped on Oklahoma on the first play of the game when safety Nick Emmanwori picked of Sooners quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr., undercutting a route and setting up what would be an early touchdown for his offense. It would continue to go well for there against the Sooners (4-3, 1-3).

Let's go ahead and say that anyone who played on defense gets a helmet sticker this week. To a man, that group played lights out. We're just going to write about a handful of those players this week, though. Here we go:

DB Nick Emmanwori: Since he's probably going to be in line for SEC and national Player of the Week honors, we reckon that Emmanwori can add a sticker to his helmet this week. As noted above, he made a crowd-quieting play just after kickoff, and he didn't slow down. Emmanwori would also register a second interception later in the first half and returned that one 65 yards for a pick-6 to put the Gamecocks on top 21-0 – and there were no flags. Add in that he had a tackle for loss among his tied-for-team-leading 11 tackles, and there's no doubt it's one of the best defensive performances of the Beamer era.

PK Alex Herrera: On a day when it's easy to give out helmet stickers, we're going to tap one to the top of Herrera's as well. It had to be a tough week for the senior, who is in his first year as the Gamecocks' starting placekicker, after missing a critical kick against Alabama. He was good on both of his attempts, making from 39 and 33, and all of his extra points as well. Penalties aren't usually forgiven, as his kickoff out of bounds is for the purposes of this story, but Herrera needs any vote of confidence he can receive right now.

DL Tonka Hemingway: The big interior defender is certain to get a helmet sticker for scoring another touchdown. Hemingway is used to being in the end zone in some form or fashion for the Gamecocks, but this scoop-and-score was huge for his team, firmly keeping momentum on their side. A loose ball bounced right into his hands and he returned it 36 yards untouched for a score. Hemingway was one of nine different players to have a sack of the quarterback, which was among his two total tackles in the game.

LB Demetrius Knight Jr.: There have been fewer faster linebackers in recent memory at South Carolina than Knight, who was all over the place all afternoon. He's the defender who forced the Hawkins fumble that Hemingway returned for a 14-0 lead less than four minutes into the game. But he didn't stop there as he also notched a quarterback sack among his 11 total tackles on the afternoon.

P Kai Kroeger: For a 35-point game, Kroeger sure was called upon a lot, having to punt eight times. There were times when he punted too well with a couple of touchbacks. However, he had six punts that traveled 50 yards or more and half of his punts put the Sooners starting inside their own 20 yard line. Kroeger, who also did a nice job getting a tough snap in the right spot on Carolina's first field goal, averaged 51.6 yards per kick.

LB Bam Martin-Scott: One of nine players to record a quarterback sack, we're going to single out Martin-Scott here for what his meant. The Sooners were certainly on the precipice of being run out of their home field barely midway into the first quarter, but the home team made a change at quarterback, looking for a spark. OU picked up an easy first down on their first drive of Jackson Arnold's time at quarterback, but faced third-and-10 on their own 26. That's when Martin-Scott broke through and showed Arnold that he was going to suffer the same fate as Hawkins and notched his QB sacks. Martin-Scott would add another half-tackle for loss and joined both Emmanwori and Knight with an 11-tackle game, while also forcing and recovering a fumble.

QB LaNorris Sellers: While certainly not perfect from an entire offensive standpoint, Sellers did just about all he could, and made a big change from a week ago. The redshirt freshman protected the football, not really putting it in much trouble through the air and he kept it off the ground. Sellers had several Houdini moments, scrambling out of the grasp of a defender to escape the pocket and make a play. He was 16-of-24 passing for 175 yards while also adding 13 rushes for 28 yards, which would have been 68, if not for sack yards. But, of paramount importance, was protecting the football on a day when Oklahoma quarterbacks couldn't do so.

TE Joshua Simon: The veteran has played largely very well so far this season and hasn't gotten a lot of headlines. He's picked up a lot of tough yards after contact, often taking short passes and fighting through at least a tackler or two for extra yards. He just doesn't go down on first hit. Simon caught four of his five targets, which includes a 33-yard touchdown reception just after the two-minute timeout in the second quarter to put his team on top 32-3. It's a far cry to say that the Sooners picked up momentum after their 53-yard drive and field goal, but any good vibes near the end of the first half were stolen when Simon crossed the end zone.