2025 Mississippi State football opponent preview: Texas

For the first time in more than 20 years, a quarterback named Manning will be playing in the Magnolia State this upcoming season.

Texas will travel to Starkville, Miss. with its presumed starting quarterback, Arch Manning leading the way.

It won’t be the first time Mississippi State has seen this Manning, though. He started at quarterback for the injured Quinn Ewers in Texas’s SEC debut game last season and led the Longhorns to a comfortable win.

Anything different this time would be a huge upset. Texas has national championship aspirations after winning all but one SEC game in its debut season and was one of three SEC schools to be apart of the first-ever 12-team playoff. The Longhorns are favored to be one of those 12 teams again.

Here’s a look at the Bulldogs’ eighth opponent of the 2025 season:

Offense

You know about the quarterback, who is already being compared to his famous uncles. Manning, though, will have an almost entirely new offensive line and wide receivers. The Longhorns do return Quintrevion Wisner, who ran for more than 1,000 yards after the top two running backs for Texas went down with injuries. Both Christin Clark and CJ Baxter have recovered and will be on the field this season.

Defense

The Longhorns’ offense will get a lot of attention because of the quarterback’s last name, but the 2025 Texas defense will be the reason the Longhorns are celebrating at the end of the season. They have one of the best linebackers, Anthony Hill Jr., and one of the best edge players, Collin Simmons (along with the talented Trey Moore). The secondary lost a couple key players, but Malik Muhammad is one of the best cornerbacks in the nation. This defense is loaded with talent that rivals some of the defenses we’ve seen at Alabama and Georgia.

Schedule

Texas will travel to Mississippi State in the middle of a three-game stretch that may be the easiest stretch of SEC games for any single team. The Longhorns travel to Kentucky before traveling to Starkville and will then host Vanderbilt. That stretch comes before the Longhorns travel to Georgia, though, so any of those three games could be trap games.

Outlook

It really doesn’t matter what name is on the back of jersey for Texas’s starting quarterback, the Longhorns should win this game. Perhaps the Bulldogs can get lucky and catch Texas looking ahead to bigger games down the road. But don’t count on it. Texas is light years ahead of the Bulldogs.

The Game

Date: Saturday, October 25
Time: Flex Window
TV: TBD
Location: Davis Wade Stadium, Starkville, Miss.

The Team

Head Coach: Steve Sarkisian (38-17, 5th season)
Offensive Coordinator: Kyle Flood (5th season)
Defensive Coordinator: Pete Kwiatkowski (5th season)
2024 Record: 13-3overall, 7-1 SEC
2024 Final Rankings: No. 4 AP, No. 3 CFP, No. 3 Coaches’

The School

Location: Austin, Texas
Founded: 1883
Enrollment: 53,864
Nickname: Longhorns
School Colors: Burnt orange and white
Mascot: Bevo

The Program

Series History: Texas leads 3-2
Last Meeting: Texas 35, Mississippi State 13 (2024)
Last Conference Title: 2023, Big 12
Last Bowl Game: 2024 Peach Bowl, def. Arizona State 39-31

The Schedule

August 30: at Ohio State
September 6: vs. San Jose State
September 13: vs. UTEP
September 20: vs. Sam Houston
October 4: at Florida*
October 11: vs. Oklahoma, Cotton Bowl*
October 18: at Kentucky*
October 25: at Mississippi State*
November 1: vs. Vanderbilt*
November 15: at Georgia*
November 22: vs. Arkansas*
November 28: vs. Texas A&M*

*Denotes a conference game