Respectfully disagree. Texas has been bad in the recent past while we lost a game and still made the playoffs. OU success is NOT linked to texass success. The same could be said for TCU but no one ever says "we need TCU to be undefeated". Texass can lose often and OU can run the table and we will be fine. Recruiting is fine when OU wins not when texass wins. I want to texass to lose every game and then the next one can step into that #2 spot in the Big XII.
Texas has gone 41-36 since 2013 so no question that program has been in a rut.
But in 3 of the past 6 years, OU has lost to Texas and the other three games were extremely close...this despite OU being the better team each time and having the two best quarterbacks (both are Texans)...by far....in OU history.
Since 2018, Texas has or is having top 10 recruiting classes (ranked 6th for 2020 after two 4th place rankings in 2018 and 2019) and last year's team beat OU in October and upset Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, finishing 10-4.
As an OU follower since Wilkinson's years, I know and appreciate what the OU-Texas rivalry means to both schools and to college football. Right now, I see Texas as being a sleeping giant. Today's game with LSU is crucial to Texas gaining traction in its return to glory. It's a home game and I regard its outcome as a toss-up right now.
No one dislikes Texas or its fan base as much as me. That does not keep me from regarding Texas and its great history with a lack of respect.
And as long as OU has the state of Texas as its main recruiting target area, its rivalry with Texas will always be important to Sooner fortunes. (Ten of OU's 17 commitments for 2020 are Texans , as it was the year before).