Missouri RB Jamal Roberts downplaying matchup with No. 7 Texas

Missouri Tigers running back Jamal Roberts (20). IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Missouri RB Jamal Roberts downplaying matchup with No. 7 Texas

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated Nov 4, 2026 10:34 PM ET

Perhaps it's a coping strategy for stress. Perhaps it's really how he feels, and he's just that confident in himself and his team.

Either way, No. 18 Missouri Tigers running back Jamal Roberts isn't stressing about the massive Week 10 matchup with the No. 7 Texas Longhorns.

Both teams are 6-2 and 3-2 in SEC play. Both teams have to feel like they can make a run to the College Football Playoff, and from there, who knows what could happen?

Roberts is not trying to make this anything more than just the next game on Mizzou's schedule, though.

"I really just see it as another game, just another defense … that we’re going against," Roberts said on SiriusXM (h/t On3). "I mean, we just gotta be the most dominant, the most physical team in the trenches … The most physical team is gonna win at that point. I mean, it’s just another game.”

"It's just another game."@MizzouFootball RB Jamal Roberts previews his team's big showdown against @TexasFootball on #FullRide.@0fficialmal20 | @ChildersRadio | @CoachNeuheisel | #MIZ pic.twitter.com/Qpzf9GXSBa
— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) November 4, 2026

Missouri is coming off a dominant win over Arkansas. Texas is also coming off a dominant win. The Longhorns beat Mississippi State, 31-3.

Roberts may be wrong not to give the Texas defense its flowers, though. The Longhorns are 10th in all of college football in total defense (273.1 yards given up per game) and 19th in scoring defense (giving up just 17.1 points per game). The Longhorns have also done it over the last two games without superstar EDGE Colin Simmons, who has been dealing with a high ankle sprain.

Missouri vs. Texas will feature strength vs. strength

Missouri's offense has scored 31.5 points per game this season, though, and the Tigers have a star quarterback in Austin Simmons and Roberts has already rushed for over 1,000 yards with nine touchdowns.

The Tigers also got back All-American running back Ahmad Hardy last week after he spent most of the season recovering from an offseason gunshot wound.

This should be a good matchup of strength-vs-strength. For what it's worth, Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz is not taking the Longhorns lightly.

“They have an unbelievable defensive talent, defensive team, defensive scheme, defensive coaches,” Drinkwitz has said of Texas. “Coach (Will) Muschamp has done a terrific job there, instilling his personality and his scheme, which is very multiple."

Andrew Kulha

Andrew Kulha is probably the only sports writer you know who also doubles as a mortician. Spooky! @KulhaSports

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