Can Texas Start Turnaround Against Bruised and Battered Oklahoma?

Texas and Oklahoma has historically been the marquee game of the week in the Big 12, if not nationally, in mid-October.

That's not the case this year. TCU and Baylor is the  Top 10 matchup of the week in the Big 12. The Red River Showdown—as it's now known—still has some weight, but not nearly as much as it has in other years.

This has almost everything to do with Texas and its 2-3 start. Oklahoma, meanwhile, is coming off its own loss to TCU. Anyway, it's fair to wonder if there's going to be a point when it starts to click for Charlie Strong's team.

The first half of the Longhorns' schedule—BYU, UCLA, Baylor and Oklahoma—was always believed to be the harder stretch, but the second half of the schedule doesn't look like a breeze now either. A road game at Kansas State on October 25 still looms large, but West Virginia (November 8) and TCU (November 27) are much improved from a year ago.

Depth has been an issue for Texas because of a combination of injuries and nine dismissals—and another suspension. But Strong is not making excuses.

If he had to grade his team through five games, he told Chuck Carlton of The Dallas Morning News that the midseason report would be bad: 

"

Oh, God. Wow. We’re sitting here at 2-3 and midseason grades. We’re not playing up to our ability. We can play a lot better than what we’re playing ... I don’t want to say a letter grade but I would say this: If it was a letter grade, it wouldn’t be very good.

"

Texas could get a lot of momentum by beating the Sooners in Dallas. Remember, the Horns upset Oklahoma last year 36-20 as part of a six-game winning streak after starting 1-2.

How would Strong's team pull out an upset this year?

Like every other game for Texas this season, it starts on defense. Strong and his staff have done an excellent job of coaching up the defense so that it's a unit that actually meets expectations. The Horns rank eighth nationally in sacks and 21st in points per game.

Other than being gashed—again—by BYU for 41 points, Texas has held each opposing offense, including Baylor, to 21 or fewer points. In fact, the Horns were only down 6-0 at BYU at the half before the Cougars unleashed their offense in the second half.

In that same vein, Baylor only led Texas 7-0 at the half of last Saturday's game, and that was a result of a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown.

Baylor's three touchdown drives were lengthy, too. The shortest scoring drive was nine plays for 60 yards. That won't make Texas' defense feel any better, but the point is that the Longhorns made the Bears work for everything they got.

Eric Gay/Associated Press

That's going to be part of the formula against Oklahoma. Texas has to keep big plays to a minimum.

That starts with containing quarterback Trevor Knight. Knight didn't play in last year's Red River Showdown, a curious decision given Blake Bell's struggles and Texas' inability to slow down quarterbacks who were legit rushing threats.

Texas has faced a variety of mobile quarterbacks this year, but only one (BYU's Taysom Hill) had big numbers (99 yards, three touchdowns). Knight is a different type of runner than Hill, who is more powerful and decisive.

If anything, Hill is a more similar runner to Sooners freshman running back Samaje Perine.

Eric Gay/Associated Press

That's another weapon Texas will have to defend. With Perine and Knight, Oklahoma has a slash-and-smash combination. The Longhorns have been more susceptible to the run, ranking 55th in the country in yards per rush.

At some point, the defense can only do so much.

Texas' offense has to do a better job of putting points on the board. Otherwise, it will put added pressure on a defense to keep things close with the hope that there will be a big play, turnover or some sort of special teams break that will help close the gap.  

Texas ran the ball successfully against Oklahoma a year ago, but the offensive line this time around is a patchwork group of inexperienced players.

It's a fascinating quandary. On one hand, Texas' best offensive players, Johnathan Gray and Malcolm Brown, are in the backfield. On the other, the Longhorns rank ninth in the Big 12 in yards per rush. 

Downhill running was the key matchup for Texas against Oklahoma last year, and it just so happened to be the Sooners' primary weakness. It's hard to find that same type of favorable matchup this time around.

The Longhorns will play hard—they have all year. Weird things can happen in a rivalry game—they did last year.

Oklahoma is a 14.5-point favorite on Odds Shark for good reason. Texas' turnaround doesn't look like it will happen in Week 7. Despite the loss to TCU, Oklahoma remains a complete team. ESPN.com's Brandon Chatmon and Jake Trotter still have the Sooners as the conference favorites.

Texas is barely fielding a complete team. That's an uphill fight.

In time, things may click for the Longhorns offense, and the wins could follow. For now, there's still a feeling that things are going to be disappointing before they get better for Texas.

Statistics courtesy of cfbstats.

Ben Kercheval is a college football lead writer on Bleacher Report.