Spotlight: No. 22 Texas Hits Road For SEC Battle Against Mississippi State

While No. 22 Texas has gone through its peaks and valleys at times this season, the Longhorns are 5-2 overall and look to add another SEC victory on Saturday against Mississippi State.

For Texas to do so, it will have to make its trek to Starkville, Miss., worthwhile. Kickoff will be at 4:15 p.m. Eastern. In SEC play, the Longhorns are 2-1 and need to avoid a second conference loss at this point.

Mississippi State, under Jeff Lebby, who is in his second year as the Bulldogs’ head coach, is 4-3 overall, 0-3 in SEC play.

SEC Network will have the game on there. Of course, Longhorns fans can tune into the Longhorns Radio Network and hear the call from longtime voice Craig Way, analyst Roger Wallace and sideline reporter Will Matthews.

Texas’ offense needs to get off to a fast start. Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian has come under fire for his less-than-stellar work calling plays on offense against the Kentucky Wildcats.

The Longhorns had to go into overtime before Mason Shipley’s game-winning field goal gave Texas a hard-fought 16-13 win over a Kentucky team that played hard but couldn’t finish off its opponent.

Thanks to his efforts against Kentucky, Shipley was named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week while Colin Simmons earned SEC Co-Defensive Lineman of the Week accolades.

Last season against Mississippi State, Simmons was a pure monster against the Bulldogs.

I love this answer from Colin Simmons pic.twitter.com/heFl0V5P2C

— Nash (@NashTalksTexas) October 19, 2025

Check this out: Simmons had seven tackles — six solo tackles and three tackles for loss. He’s probably licking his chops to get more against Mississippi State on Saturday.

Meanwhile, defensive backs Jelani McDonald, Malik Muhammad and Graceson Littleton all have two interceptions per player in seven games this season. If Muhammad can get another one against Mississippi State, then it would help the Longhorns flip the script and give the offense a fresh set of downs.

Speaking of the struggling Longhorns offense, Texas fans want to see more out of quarterback Arch Manning. He’s gone from being a Heisman Trophy favorite to just being QB No. 1 at Texas. Manning, last season against Mississippi State, was 26-of-31 passing for 325 yards in a 35-13 win over the Bulldogs.

Hopefully, Manning will be able to connect with wide receiver Ryan Wingo more on Saturday. He’s also going to have to make an effort to get Parker Livingstone more targets.

Will Texas beat Mississippi State? Things on paper line up pretty good. But the Longhorns cannot afford to go into Starkville and think Mississippi State is simply going to lie down and not put up a fight.

Lebby will have his team ready to rock and roll. Sarkisian needs to get his act together as offensive coordinator this week. There cannot be anymore slip-ups as this season starts getting into its later games.