Texas didn’t just survive another wild college football Saturday. It used the chaos to claw its way back into the thick of the playoff conversation.
While upsets piled up across the AP Top 25, the Longhorns kept handling their own business, rolling past Mississippi State 31-3 to move to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in Southeastern Conference play. That was enough to lift Texas one spot to No. 10 in Sunday’s AP poll, putting it back in the top 10 after two weeks outside it.
The timing matters. The first College Football Playoff rankings are set to come out Tuesday, and Texas is suddenly in a much better spot than it was a couple of weeks ago.
The biggest shakeup came in Los Angeles, where unranked USC stunned No. 2 Ohio State 30-18.
The Buckeyes took their second loss of the season and dropped nine places to No. 11, landing one spot behind Texas. USC jumped out early and never gave the Buckeyes much room to breathe, piling up 30 points - the most Ohio State has allowed since 2024 - while keeping them out of the end zone until the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
Ohio State wasn’t alone in getting knocked around. No.
19 SMU fell 30-27 at Syracuse, No. 24 Oklahoma State lost a 51-49 shootout to Iowa State, and No.
25 Wisconsin was blanked 30-0 by Iowa. No.
20 Northwestern also went down, losing 34-26 to Oregon.
Even some teams that escaped with wins had to sweat. Top-ranked Miami barely got past North Carolina 38-35, No.
4 Indiana needed overtime to beat Minnesota 23-16, and No. 8 BYU edged Arizona State 27-20.
This time, though, the teams ahead of Texas mostly held up. Georgia beat Florida 27-8, while Notre Dame, Utah and UCLA all won comfortably.
Texas’ own performance Saturday was steady, if not spotless. The Longhorns’ defense was the story, holding Mississippi State to 187 total yards and piling up seven sacks in a game that never felt close after the early stages. After back-to-back losses to Oklahoma and Florida, Texas has now answered with consecutive wins, including a statement victory over Ole Miss.
The bigger picture is where things get interesting. Ohio State’s loss dropped the Buckeyes to 6-2, matching Texas’ record, and the Longhorns already own the head-to-head edge after beating Ohio State earlier this season.
Still, Texas can’t count on everyone else to keep opening doors. The Longhorns have worked their way back into the playoff mix, but November will decide whether they stay there.
They head to Columbia on Saturday to face No. 19 Missouri, fresh off a 34-10 win over Arkansas, before taking on No.
15 LSU in Death Valley in what shapes up as their toughest road trip of the season.
Before that stretch begins, Texas will get its first real read on where it stands when the committee releases its opening rankings Tuesday.
The Longhorns have spent the last two weeks rebuilding their case. Now they’ll find out how much ground they’ve actually made up.
In Other News...
Texas Win Came With A Missouri Concern Fans Can't Ignore
Texas got the result it wanted against Mississippi State, but the win came with a longer injury list than anyone around the program would have liked. Several key players, including Graceson Littleton, Cam Coleman, Kade Phillips, Hollywood Smothers and Ryan Wingo, were unable to finish the game, forcing Texas to keep adjusting on the fly as the roster thinned out in real time.
Steve Sarkisian acknowledged the concern afterward, and the biggest issue now is not just who got hurt, but how serious those injuries might be. The press box observations offered some clues about the nature of the setbacks and the substitutions that followed, but for Texas the real answer will come later, when the team gets a clearer read on who can move forward and who may be limited heading into the next stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Cam Coleman Gave Texas A Spark Then Left Fans Worried
Cam Coleman gave Texas exactly the kind of early lift it needed against Mississippi State, turning his first two catches into 61 yards and a touchdown before the second quarter even settled in. He had only recently worked his way through a shoulder issue from the previous week, but after being cleared to play, he looked like a difference-maker right away and helped set the tone for the Longhorns.
Then came the sight that had Texas fans uneasy. Coleman was seen heading to the locker room in the second quarter without an obvious injury moment on the field, a development that immediately shifted attention from his big start to his availability for the rest of the game. For a Texas offense that had already leaned on his explosiveness, the next update mattered almost as much as the production he had already delivered. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Backfield Suddenly Has A Bigger Problem Than Fans Expected
Texas backfield took another uneasy turn against Mississippi State when Hollywood Smothers was injured and sent to the medical tent after absorbing a hard hit. It was already a game in which his role had been limited, and the moment only added to the sense that the Longhorns are still trying to sort out how much they can count on him in a rotation that has been shifting for weeks.
Raleek Brown has been the steadier presence in the run game, and his strong outing against the Bulldogs only sharpened the contrast. Smothers has already missed two games with a lower-leg injury, and Brown has outpaced him in both rushing yards and touchdowns this season, leaving Texas with a backfield picture that feels less settled than anyone expected. [Read more 🡒]