Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) tries to pass the ball when the Texas Longhorns face ULM on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin. Don’t expect top-ranked Texas to deviate from its “business as usual” mantra as it will have the upper hand in its Southeastern Conference opener against Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon in Austin, Texas.
Yes, the Longhorns (4-0) will play their first game against an SEC opponent as a member of the consensus toughest conference in the country. But Texas is strengthened by the fact that it played Alabama in both 2022 and 2023, beat the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa last season, and by its consistency over the past two years.
“We’re confident in our formula for success and what that looks like,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday. “We respect that this is our first SEC game at home and what that looks like. We’re going to embrace that aspect of it, but it’s not going to impact the way we prepare for the game and the way we work in the game.
“The way we look at it, it’s an SEC championship game.”
The Longhorns will come into Saturday’s contest off of a dominant 51-3 win over Louisiana-Monroe last week when freshman quarterback Arch Manning passed for 258 yards, two scores and two interceptions in less than three quarters of play. It was Manning’s first collegiate start, which was much talked about, and he said afterward that the game “felt long” to him.
Manning was under center against the Warhawks because of an injury to former starter Quinn Ewers, who Sarkisian listed as questionable for the game against the Bulldogs as he continues to recover from an injury to his oblique muscle. Ewers will be monitored throughout the week.
“Quinn has to be able to run the entire game plan (when he comes back),” Sarkisian said.
Texas ranks first nationally in scoring defense, allowing an average of 5.5 points per game. The top three teams in the statistic – Ole Miss, Texas and Georgia – are members of the SEC, while the other league members are Tennessee fifth and Alabama sixth.
The Bulldogs (1-3, 0-1 SEC) are traveling to Austin for the first time since 1992, following a 45-28 home loss to Florida in their conference opener last week. Mississippi State has lost three consecutive games in its first season under coach Jeff Lebby.
The Bulldogs will be without quarterback Blake Schepen after the former Baylor signal-caller suffered a shoulder injury in the fourth quarter of a loss to Florida. Schepen is ruled out for the season.
True freshman Michael Van Buren Jr. replaced him for the remainder of the game and led two extended drives in mopup duty, one ending with a rushing TD and the other ending on the goal line as time expired.
“I’m proud of how Mike was able to put a drive together for us in the fourth quarter,” Lebby said Monday. “He’s a guy that has a lot of confidence in himself and the people around him. It’s really about focusing on the small, taking great care of the football, creating predictable results and putting us in good situations.”
Saturday’s game is the fifth ever between Texas and Mississippi State and the first since the 1999 Cotton Bowl, which the Longhorns won 38-11. The series between the two teams is tied 2-2.
–Field Level Media