Ole Miss showed Texas exactly where the pressure points are for Missouri.
That matters because the No. 18 Tigers have spent much of 2025 looking dangerous again under Eli Drinkwitz, offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey and quarterback Austin Simmons.
Missouri is averaging six yards per play, good for 38th in the nation, and it has won three of its last four by a combined 106-33. That run includes a 45-17 win over Florida, the same Gators who have beaten Texas two years running.
But in Missouri’s lone loss during that stretch, the Tigers were held to three points by Mississippi, their lowest output since a 2024 loss to Alabama. And the Rebels did it without forcing a turnover until the final 70 seconds.
The formula was simple, and it was aggressive. Ole Miss attacked Missouri’s comfort zones and kept Simmons from settling into the kind of rhythm that makes Drinkwitz and Lindsey’s “pro-tempo” offense hum.
Missouri’s offense is built to avoid negative plays. The Tigers’ sack rate sits at 3.04%, and their interception rate is 0.9%, both bottom-14 marks.
For that structure to work, Simmons has to be decisive, accurate and in sync. When he is, Missouri can move.
When he isn’t, the whole operation bogs down.
The Rebels started by taking away the run. Missouri averages 4.6 yards per carry, which makes its ground game one of the more reliable ones in the FBS, but Ole Miss held the Tigers to 1.5 yards per attempt. The Rebels loaded the box, sent run blitzes and controlled the interior, making it a clear point of emphasis.
“We knew we were going to have to run the ball and stop their run to win,” Rebels head coach Pete Golding said after the game.
That approach mattered beyond the rushing numbers. Once Missouri couldn’t lean on the ground game, Simmons had to carry more of the burden, and Lindsey’s playbook became easier to predict on later downs.
Texas has already shown it can help in that area. The Longhorns allow the 10th-fewest yards per carry in the country. The complication is that star Missouri back Ahmad Hardy is expected to take on a larger workload Saturday as he continues recovering from a gunshot wound.
The other major lever Ole Miss pulled was pressure. Missouri’s conference opponents had been blitzing Simmons on less than a third of his drop-backs, likely wary of surrendering a big play or opening lanes in the run game. Ole Miss ignored that caution and blitzed Simmons 56.5% of the time he dropped back, pressuring him 15 times - nearly twice as much as any other team has done this season.
That doesn’t mean Texas should just send heat and hope for the best. Simmons actually handled the blitz reasonably well against Ole Miss.
The bigger issue came when the pressure forced him off his spot. On third and long, Golding used a zero-blitz look, leaving Simmons to sort out an unblocked defender while trying to hit a 10-yard dig to an isolated receiver with a defender playing 10 yards off.
If Simmons can climb to the top of his drop quickly and stay composed, Missouri can still move the sticks. But when the pressure gets him scrambling through his footwork and sliding to the right, his platform breaks down and the throw suffers.
There’s also the timing game. Missouri’s passing attack depends on rhythm, and physical coverage at the line and at the top of routes can disrupt that flow. That means Texas will need to be disruptive with Donovan Olugbode and Cayden Lee, even though doing so could be tricky if the Longhorns are without starting cornerbacks Graceson Littleton and Kade Phillips.
Ole Miss also showed that Simmons can be bothered even when he isn’t under immediate duress. The Rebels’ defense made him inaccurate from clean pockets, too.
That is the blueprint Texas can take into Saturday: stop the run, make Simmons solve problems instead of simply finding his outlets, and throw off the timing that drives Missouri’s offense. If the Longhorns can do that, they can work through the injury issues around them and come away with a road win.
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