Texas is dangerous enough to ruin some team’s season. Just ask Oklahoma.

It was only three weeks ago that Texas was coming off an embarrassing 50-7 loss to TCU, dropping to 1-4 on the season. But if you polled the Big 12 coaches to ask if they’re excited to play Texas, the answers would likely be a lot different now.

As the end of October nears, Texas suddenly has the looks of a dangerous teams, with two straight wins over Oklahoma and Kansas State. Upcoming games against Iowa State and Kansas will almost assuredly get the Longhorns over .500.

Texas isn’t going to win the Big 12, but the Longhorns could absolutely shape the Big 12 race and put themselves in position to contend next season. The biggest reason? The last two games have provided some hope for consistency from a team that earlier this month saw its players fighting with each other on Twitter.

After giving up at least seven yards per play against Notre Dame, Cal and TCU, the Longhorns’ defense has played its two best games of the season the last two weeks, giving up 4.28 and 3.97 yards per play against Oklahoma and Kansas State, respectively. And they’re doing that with players who should be back next season.

Everyone knew five-star freshman linebacker Malik Jefferson would be a stud, but seven of the Longhorns’ top 10 tackles leaders are non-seniors. Five are freshmen and sophomores. Only one of the top five in tackles-for-loss is a senior, with Jefferson and sophomore defensive lineman Poona Ford leading the way.

The Longhorns seem to finally be figuring things out on the other side of the ball, as well. While the offense hasn’t been as dominant as it was against a dreadful Cal defense, it has shown some semblance of consistency in the past two games. And most importantly, coach Charlie Strong seems like he is finally figuring out how to use his personnel. Jerrod Heard has firmly grabbed hold of the role of starting quarterback, but Texas has also found a role for backup quarterback Tyrone Swoopes, who scored three touchdowns on runs out of the Longhorns’ “18 Wheeler” package.

It was masterful play-calling from a team that we’ve come to expect to fail spectacularly. And suddenly, it’s looking like all of the necessary dysfunction within the program -- from the quarterback switch to naming Jay Norvell the play-caller -- is starting to pay off.

Texas still isn’t Texas yet. The Longhorns should get to 5-4 with wins over Iowa State and Kansas, but the Longhorns will still need to fight to make a bowl game, with games against West Virginia, Texas Tech and Baylor left. Still, with things looking up for this talented team, none of those teams can be too excited about seeing Texas on their schedules. That’s a lot more than you could say less than a month ago.