AUSTIN -- If you would like to win a cold beverage from a Texas Ex, challenge him to name the last Texas head coach to beat Oklahoma. He will say John Mackovic, and that's when you will raise your hand to attract the barkeep.

You could sooner find a white, male Democrat in Texas than find a Longhorn who knows that Mack Brown has beaten the Sooners. In fact, in five seasons at Texas, his teams have beaten Oklahoma twice, in 1998 and 1999. Despite what you've heard from your burnt orange friends, not to mention on every sports talk show from El Paso to Beaumont, Brown can beat Oklahoma.

	While many only remember the three straight losses, Texas' Mack Brown has two wins over OU.

However, after three straight losses to the Sooners, each by a double-digit margin, it's clear that the Red River is flowing to the north. Oklahoma comes across the border as if it owns the state (which may be because Oklahoma is currently governed by Oklahoma State, but we digress).

Senior All-America wide receiver Roy Williams knows that neither he nor his classmate, B.J. Johnson, has ever caught a touchdown pass against Oklahoma.

Williams volunteers the information, because he is already thinking about rectifying it. The list of things that Williams hasn't achieved at Texas is shorter than second-and-inches. "We've never scored in a season opener," Williams said, referring to him and Johnson, "and we've never scored against Oklahoma." He recalled the indignity of the 63-14 loss to the Sooners in his freshman year.

"We fell behind 7-0," Williams said, "and everyone on the sideline is saying, 'All right! Let's go now!'

"We fell behind 14-0, and everyone is going, 'C'mon now! Here we go!'

"When we fell behind, 21-0, I'm thinking, 'O.K., if this was a video game, here's where you push 'Reset.'"

The Longhorns lost again in 2001, 14-3, and 35-24 last fall. Oklahoma has beaten Texas by dominating the line of scrimmage, especially when the Longhorns have the ball. In the last two losses, Texas has rushed for a total of 80 yards on 60 carries. The Sooners didn't crack any codes to beat the Longhorns. It became an open secret among Big 12 coaches that the Texas offensive line played softer than fresh flan. Offensive line coach Tim Nunez believed in finesse blocking. His Longhorns didn't serve pancakes.

The results spoke for themselves. The Longhorns rushed for 1,762 yards in 13 games, and had to engorge itself with the football equivalent of junk food to do that. Texas rushed for nearly 40 percent of that amount against North Carolina, Houston and Baylor, teams that combined to go 11-25. More telling is the average per rush: 3.45 yards per carry. The Longhorns ranked ninth in the Big 12.

Brown decided he needed to grade the road for his tailbacks.

"I've got some old school in me," Brown said. "You have to be able to run the ball on the goal line, coming in and going out. You have to be able to run the ball into the wind late in the game. You don't have to be a dominant running team. The eight best rushing teams in the NFL did not make the playoffs. But you have got to make explosive plays."

Actually, only four of the top five rushing teams didn't make the playoffs, but don't let the facts get in the way of a good point. Over the winter, Brown let Nunez go and gave tackles/tight end coach Mac McWhorter the whole offensive line. He also hired running backs coach Mike Haywood from LSU, an offense that rushed for 248 yards in the Cotton Bowl against Texas while throwing for 193.

The change comes as good news for junior tailback Cedric Benson, who managed the neat trick of rushing for 1,293 yards while being accused of underachieving. The changes are being made now. They will be refined during preseason work in August, and they will be put to work when the 'Horns open the season on Aug. 30 against New Mexico State.

That said, the success or failure of the emphasis on a physical ground game will be measured on Oct. 11 at the Cotton Bowl.

As the Longhorns have learned, when they take the field against Oklahoma, there is no reset button.

Ivan Maisel is a senior writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at ivan.maisel@espn3.com.