Once a football team has lost its focus and seen goals disappear, it's hard to regroup.
Somehow Oklahoma has managed the feat after its College Football Playoff hopes went on life support with two nonconference losses. Since then, the Sooners (7-2, 6-0 Big 12) have won six straight games.
For Baylor, which visits Norman on Saturday, the degree of difficulty for a possible turnaround is much, much greater.
The Bears (6-2, 3-2) started out with six straight wins, cracking the AP top 10. Then came a 35-34 loss at Texas and the 62-22 demolition by TCU, when players and assistant coaches seemed way too caught up in all the sexual-assault probe/Art Briles/regents/fans subplots.