Texas Football: Losses Part of Growing Pains as Charlie Strong Changes Culture

The Texas Longhorns entered Darrell K Royal—Texas Memorial Stadium in an unfamiliar situation Saturday: The Longhorns were more than a two-touchdown underdog to the Baylor Bears for the first time in program history.

Would the Longhorns be able to slow down the unstoppable train, otherwise known as the Bears offense? Could Texas find an offensive rhythm and put up points against Baylor's defense? Would the team shock the nation and continue down the undefeated path in conference play?

The answer to all of those questions was no.

The Longhorns defense forced Baylor to punt on the first three drives of the game, came up with a huge stop on 4th-and-goal at the one yard line and found a way to hold the almighty Baylor offense out of the end zone in the first half of the game.

At the end of the game, Texas held Baylor to 28 points, which is fewer than half of the number of points the Bears have averaged in 2014.

It sounds like the team was poised to pull an upset, right?

Wrong.

The Texas offense did little to gain momentum on the defense's performance. And little is putting it nicely.

Quarterback Tyrone Swoopes and the offense could not get into a rhythm—at least in terms of scoring points. The Longhorns finally found the end zone with 2:42 left in the game.

The end result was a 28-7 home loss, which puts the Longhorns at 2-3 heading into the Red River Showdown against Oklahoma.

Adversity is almost guaranteed in the first season of any head coach. But head coach Charlie Strong hasn't only been faced with adversity; he has also had to deal with an awful hand to begin with.

If this was a Texas Hold 'Em poker game, Strong would be holding an off-suit seven, two before the flop.

Strong has dismissed nine players from his team for violating team rules. And a handful of those players could have helped the first-year head coach this season. But Strong has made it a point to change the culture at Texas, and the higher-ups have applauded his efforts.

"

Here's the regents' motion in "full support" of Strong: pic.twitter.com/C5rm0ZRAoS

— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) October 3, 2014"

On Friday, the Texas Board of Regents announced their full support of Strong, and the emphasis he has placed on delivering his five core values—honesty, treat women with respect, no drugs/weapons/stealing. A coach having the full support of the Texas Board of Regents in his first year, following a losing record shows the university has faith in Strong.

But it does not mean the team will win on the field. In fact, the schedule, in addition to the increased talent in the Big 12 does not do Strong any favors in his first season. 

The Longhorns have to bounce back from Saturday's loss to Baylor in time to face No. 4 Oklahoma. The Sooners are also coming off of a loss, but are in a much better situation than the Longhorns.

In other words, Strong has one week to get his team ready to face another Top 10 opponent in one of the most hostile environments in college football.

Can the Longhorns bounce back? Of course. But it is going to take a much better offensive performance from Texas to survive the Red River Showdown.

And Texas fans should not be expecting a win over Oklahoma after what the team, primarily the offense has shown in the first five games of the season.

The previous two Texas head coaches may not have had full support of the Texas Board of Regents, but they did win their first game against Oklahoma in their inaugural season coaching the Longhorns.

Unfortunately for Strong, that streak could absolutely be broken Oct. 11.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.

Taylor Gaspar is Bleacher Report's featured columnist covering the Texas Longhorns. Follow Taylor on Twitter: @Taylor_Gaspar.