Is Mack Brown nearing the end of his Red River rope?

George Schroeder, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

DALLAS — The scene has become all too familiar, the Sooners gathering at midfield of the Cotton Bowl for a team photo. Bob Stoops' rule of thumb is anytime there's a trophy won, they take a picture. After bowl games. Or Big 12 championships.

Or when Oklahoma beats Texas.

On Saturday it was 63-21, another Red River romp, and maybe the Sooners need to come up with something new to commemorate winning the Golden Hat, because it has become old hat.

So has the contrasting scene inside the interview room. As the Sooners were accepting the trophy — players trying it on for size, tipping it to fans, and generally basking in the warm afterglow — Mack Brown was sitting beneath harsh TV lights, declaring the loss "unacceptable." Texas' coach looked tired, older than his 61 years. On days like these, and there have been too many of them, he always does.

Sure, it's unacceptable. Next question: What will Texas continue to accept?

Oklahoma's third consecutive victory over Texas — and the Sooners' second rout in a row — led Brown to say the Longhorns were outcoached and "outhit." And while we're talking "out," could Brown be on his way? It seems crazy, but the whispers have begun. Brown stated the obvious when he said the loss was "not a proud moment for us."

There have been plenty of those: A national championship and another near-miss. Wins in BCS games. A couple of conference titles. More 10-win seasons than most coaches dream of. In 15 seasons at Texas, Brown rebuilt a monster. But as the loss to the Sooners showed, he's still in the midst of another significant rebuild. A proud program does not have much patience, and losing to Oklahoma — especially the way Brown's teams sometimes lose to Oklahoma — does not help.

The Oklahoma game has outsized importance. Coaches don't like to admit those truths, but Brown has been on both sides of the Red River rivalry. As an assistant to Barry Switzer in the mid-1980s, he asked Switzer: "What do you have to do to keep your job here, and what do you have to do to keep everybody happy?" As recounted by Brown, Switzer's reply was brief: "You've got to beat Texas."

It's no different from the other end. Brown has beaten Oklahoma, but only six times in 15 tries. Against Stoops, who arrived in Norman a year later than Brown did in Austin, Brown is 5-9.

Although a few years back, the Longhorns won four out of five, they've now lost three consecutive. But it's not just the losses. It's how several have come. A few minutes after Brown left the interview room, Stoops arrived, and was soon comparing, without really being asked, the big win to other big ones in the rivalry. He noted the years, 2000 and 2003, and the scores — 63-14 and 65-14 — and said: "This certainly ranks up there."

Add Oklahoma's 55-17 win in 2011, and Brown's four worst losses at Texas have come against Stoops. Those are also four of the seven largest winning margins in the long, storied history of the series.

Unacceptable. And it's only because of other significant accomplishments that a coach survives to keep coaching in the series. But that brings back the context of Texas' recent struggles against everybody else. Since playing for the 2009 BCS title against Alabama, the Longhorns are 17-14.

Which makes the next few weeks, perhaps, very important.

Brown was hammered almost as hard by Texas-based columnists in Sunday's editions as by Oklahoma on Saturday. His $3.5 million buyout was referenced. If it seems premature — Brown is 145-41 at Texas, with nine seasons of at least 10 wins (something Texas achieved just twice in the 14 years before his arrival) — the importance of the Red River rivalry can't be overlooked. The standards, reached recently by Brown's program, are fairly high.

If Texas had beaten Alabama for the 2009 BCS title — and the Longhorns will always contend that if Colt McCoy hadn't been injured early in the game, Texas would have won — many believe Brown might have retired afterward, and gone out on top.

Instead, he remained. And the program has spiraled downward. After that run to the BCS title game, a disastrous 2010 season (5-7) prompted Brown to shake up his staff and make over his coaching philosophy. Bryan Harsin came in from Boise State to run the offense. Manny Diaz came in from Mississippi State to bring an SEC-style defense. In the coordinators' second season, the start was promising. But the loss to Oklahoma revealed that Texas remains limited by poor quarterback play and defensive mediocrity.

And now, the grumbling grows louder. And where the Longhorns go from here becomes very important. A year ago, Texas entered the Cotton Bowl 4-0. After a 55-17 loss, the Horns stumbled to a 4-5 finish. The good news: The schedule appears to ease from here. The bad news: The Longhorns haven't exactly inspired confidence.

"Last year, we let this one beat us a couple more times," Brown said. "We can't do that."

It would probably be unacceptable.