Michigan-Ohio State. Army-Navy. Cowboys-Redskins. Yankees-Red Sox. All the great rivalries in sports are at their best when the teams are at their best.

The same goes for OU-Texas.

While rivalry games are generally competitive no matter the teams’ rankings, the best matchups have come when both teams have a lot to lose. This year’s Red River Rivalry isn’t the highly anticipated top-10 rivalry of national championship contenders everyone expected before the season.

The Sooners, though coming into the annual battle at the Cotton Bowl undefeated for the sixth time in the Stoops Era, still have a lot to prove this season.

The wins against Utah State, Air Force and Cincinnati did little to bolster the Sooners’ confidence, showing exploitable weaknesses on both sides of the ball.

Although Landry Jones showed improvement playing on the road Saturday in Cincinnati, the Sooners’ problems away from Norman aren’t gone, just different.

Jones showed composure against the Bearcats, putting up 31 points and keeping OU in a position to win. The trouble came from the defense, which allowed Cincinnati to stay close.

OU’s defense has only played one complete game this season, holding Florida State’s potent offense to just 17 points. However, the Sooner defenders have folded under pressure in the other three games, nearly undermining the offense’s solid performances.

The Longhorns, after an embarrassing 34-12 loss to UCLA in Austin, limp into the game with one loss. This bodes well for the Sooners, since the only time in the last five years Texas lost in its game prior to the Red River Rivalry — 2007 — the Longhorns also lost to OU.

The Bruins ran at will against Texas, allowing UCLA to keep the ball from the Longhorns’ talented secondary.

Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy are gone; Gerald McCoy and Jordan Shipley are, too. The players who remain lack some of that national luster their most-recent predecessors had, and the stakes aren’t quite as high for either team.

Still, even when both teams’ national championship hopes aren’t on the line, the Red River Rivalry is about bragging rights.

OU coach Bob Stoops holds a 6-5 record in the game, but Texas has won four of the last five since Vince Young’s break-out season in 2005. Only a select few of the Sooners this year can say they’ve beaten Texas.

The Sooners can chalk up some of the blame for the past two losses to injuries — linebacker and “defensive quarterback” Ryan Reynolds in 2008, Heisman Trophy-winner Bradford in 2009. In the end, though, it came down to the Sooners being outplayed by the Longhorns.

Throughout the illustrious history of the rivalry, entering the105th contest, each team has won in streaks. For OU, this year is about ending its slide against Texas and starting its own streak.

It’s about winning one more for broadcasting legend Bob Barry Sr., who will call his final OU-Texas game as the “voice of the Sooners” Saturday.

It’s about creating new, great moments — like Roy Williams’ “Superman” play or OU’s come-from-behind win in overtime in 1996 — that Sooner fans can talk about for years to come.

It’s about showing whether the Sooners’ Texas-born players are better than the Longhorns’ own home-grown talent.

It’s about beating Texas.