Texas’ 34-27 win over Ole Miss came with a price.
The Longhorns knocked off the Rebels on Saturday night in Austin, but the injury list kept growing around them as the night went on. Texas was already down edge rusher Colin Simmons and running back Hollywood Smothers, and now it looks like more key names may be headed for questions heading into next week’s matchup with Mississippi State.
Trevor Goosby’s night ended early in troubling fashion. He was carted off in the first quarter after what looked like a lower-body injury, then later returned to the sideline in street clothes and on crutches. Andre Cojoe stepped in at left tackle in his place.
After the game, Steve Sarkisian didn’t sound especially optimistic about Goosby’s condition. He said the injury "didn't look very good" and also made clear how much Texas had to absorb across the roster to finish the job.
"I don't have all the particulars on Cam and Trevor. Obviously, neither of them look very good," Sarkisian said.
"I'd be remiss if I didn't say, this is the ultimate team sport. We played without Colin Simmons.
We played without Hollywood Smothers. We essentially played the entire game without Trevor Goosby and the majority of the game without Cam Coleman, and we played the No. 7-ranked team in the country and won by a touchdown, so I'm proud of our team because we said we needed to win as a team, and the team won tonight, and so that was that was really cool.
I can't wait, and hopefully we get these guys back sooner rather than later."
Goosby had already dealt with a bone bruise in his knee during fall camp and missed the season opener against Texas State.
Cam Coleman’s exit came later, in the second half, after he went up for a diving catch and came down hard on his left shoulder. He was in obvious pain as he headed to the sideline, spent time with the trainers, then went to the locker room and never made it back onto the field.
Coleman finished with one catch for 12 yards, and he had dropped a potential catch before leaving. He had also dealt with a bruised tailbone in the win over Tennessee earlier this season.
Texas also had to work around the absence of Hollywood Smothers, which was supposed to open the door for Cooper to take on a bigger role. Instead, Cooper didn’t record a carry against Ole Miss and finished with one catch for seven yards. Sarkisian said after the game that Cooper was battling an illness and remains "banged up."
"We were going to have to lean on (Michael Terry), Derrek had been banged up and sick this week, Hollywood was out," Sarkisian said.
Cooper’s lack of production has stretched beyond Saturday, too. Since the Oklahoma game, where he had eight carries for 41 yards, he has not logged a carry and has just one catch for seven yards over the last two games.
He was listed as probable before the Florida game after not appearing on the injury report earlier in the week, and his current workload is difficult to project until he gets back to full strength. He also suffered an ankle injury in the season opener, which may be the issue that has been limiting him.
Another late wrinkle came with Black, who had not shown up on the SEC injury report during the week but appeared as a game-time decision against Ole Miss. He dressed for the game, but he never got on the field and spent the night on the sideline without his helmet while watching the defense. The fact that he wasn’t on the report until Saturday suggests he should be fine moving forward, though the exact injury he was dealing with remains unclear.
In Other News...
Ole Miss Coach Is Still Explaining The Choices Texas Made Hurt
Pete Golding is still unpacking the two decisions that helped swing Ole Miss into a tougher spot against Texas, and both came with the kind of late-game math that coaches spend the rest of the week rethinking. The Rebels head coach said he believed the game was still within reach when he sent out the field goal unit for a 58-yard try, even though the kick carried obvious risk. Texas turned that miss into more breathing room, adding a field goal of its own soon after and keeping control of the game.
Golding also looked back on an earlier fourth-down decision late in the second quarter, saying he regretted passing up a shorter field goal in favor of going for it. For Texas, those are the kinds of moments that can quietly change the shape of a game without a single explosive play involved, especially when an opponent is trying to balance aggressiveness with caution. And for Ole Miss, the lingering frustration is that both calls still invite the same question: what might have happened had the Rebels taken the safer points instead? [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Holds Firm As AP Poll Chaos Shakes Contenders
Week 8 turned the AP Top 25 into a moving target, and the ripple effects reached deep into the national picture. With nearly a third of the top 10 taking losses, the reshuffling opened the door for teams to climb and forced several contenders to slide, including Texas, which made a notable jump as the Big 12 race and the playoff conversation both kept getting messier.
The ranking churn also underscored how volatile the season has become for the Longhorns peers, with undefeated teams in the conference taking hits and programs like Utah rising as others fell back. Miami even picked up more first-place support after BYU lost, while Wisconsin crashed the rankings after its win over USC, a reminder that one weekend can redraw the board almost completely. [Read more 🡒]
Arch Mannings Parents Had Texas Fans Buzzing During A Huge Night
During Texas 34-27 win over Ole Miss, the focus on the field was only part of the story. Cameras in the stands caught Arch Mannings parents reacting to the action, and that was enough to get Longhorns fans talking during a huge night for the program.
Arch Manning helped fuel the buzz with a touchdown pass and two rushing scores as Texas handled the pressure in a game that carried plenty of weight. Even with the victory in hand, the sideline and the stands kept drawing attention, with fans reading plenty into the family moments that played out during the broadcast. [Read more 🡒]