College Football Week 8 Game of the Week: Ole Miss at Texas
by Zak Drapeau
Sportz Nation - 10/22/2026
How'd We Get Here?
With College Gameday going to Salt Lake City for the huge B1g 12 showdown between Utah and Houston, I decided to stay down south and focus on the Rebels taking on the Longhorns in Austin.
The #7 Ole Miss Rebels will be on the road facing the #19 Texas Longhorns this week. Both teams have been ranked inside the Top-4 this season with the Longhorns holding the #1 spot for 4 weeks. Since then, the Longhorns have lost two in a row both at Oklahoma and last week at home versus the Gators. The Longhorns were suppoosed to have the best Quarterback in the country as well as one of the best RB duos and WR duos to boot, but their offense has looked abysmal for most of the season and definitely these past two weeks.
The Rebels also lost to the Gators earlier this season but have won two straight including at Vanderbilt and then a dominant victory vs Missouri last week. The Rebels are #7 on the most recent AP Poll but #5 on my latest rankings (which you can find here) afters showing me that they're able to put a complete team out there against a Top-10 opponent. The Rebels threw the ball, ran the ball, rushed the passer and stopped the run against a very good Missouri team and absolutely looked like a championship caliber team.
With one team definitely on the downtrend and another looking up, this game seems to have the writing on the wall for Texas but it this game that Black and White? Oddsmakers certainly wouldn't agree with Texas being favored by 3.5 points.
Texas Longhorns
The Longhorns problems this season definitely do not find themselves on defense, with their team sacks being Tied for 10th in the country so far this season. They have given up over 260 yards passing per game but their schedule needs to be taken in account. 4 of their 6 games so far this season have been against Ohio State, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Florida who all have extremely good offenses this year (except Oklahoma.)
Where Texas has left us scratching our heads is on offense, who before the season started we assumed would be one of the absolute best in the country. So far this season, Arch Manning has been okay but committed to many turnovers and has missed easy reads while their running game behind Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown has averaged less than 5 yards per carry and has averaged less than 4 in all of their biggest games.
The Longhorns haven't been all bad and did defeat both Ohio State and Tennessee in Knoxville. While Arch Manning had a terrible day in Knoxville and first half against the Buckeyes, we did see him rise to the occasion in the 2nd half against Ohio State with some of his best play of the season.
Manning is way too inconsistent right now and even though he has 4 All-American level talents to throw the ball to, has not been the gamechanger we thought he'd be.
Their defense hasn't even been elite this season either but they have definitely been good enough to keep them in games. When considering they've faced 4 teams that have been or are ranked, they have only allowed 22 points per game and allowed only 107 rushing yards per game.
They also have Colin Simmons who leads the league in sacks and is a top candidate for both the Nagurski and Lombardi awards. Simmons is absolutely a game changer and probably the #1 player Ole Miss will have to gameplan for this week. Trinidad Chambliss is one of the best Quarterbacks at avoiding edge rushers this season but it is almost guaranteed that Simmons will wreck havoc on their gameplan and force Chambliss to improvise.
Ole Miss Rebels
The Rebels come into this game with a lot more momentum than the Longhorns. Their season as a whole has been extremely dominant besides one errant game in the Swamp where their defense didn't come to play.
Besides that one game the Rebels have beaten Missouri, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Charlotte and most importantly LSU, in the Lane Kiffin-revenge game. Ole Miss has averaged 37.5 points per game this season which is Top-20 in the country. Their backfield duo of RB Kewan Lacy and Heisman candidate Trinidad Chambliss have been electric this year especially Chambliss. In games that the Rebels have faced the most opposition, we've seen Chambliss put his cape on and play his best as he leads them to wins.
Lacy took a while to get going this season but has posted back to back games with over 5 yards per carry now and still has 5 TDs on the year. The rest of the Rebels' offense has been by committee with multiple receivers becoming large parts of this spread offense and contributing early.
The Rebels' defense has been very inconsistent for most of the season, but their best games have come against their toughest opponents; LSU and Missouri. Where the Rebels only allowed 4 and 1.5 yards per carry respectively.
My Predictions
The game spread is in favor of Texas by 3.5-points. I am somewhat surprised at the line given the difference in momentum both teams have had. This game will be in Texas for the Longhorns advantage but we just saw last week when the Gators came to town that that advantage isn't all it's cracked up to be.
The Rebels meanwhile dominated the Commodores 52-17 in their last road game. They did get embarrassed in their only other road game this season in the Swamp which was a trap game after their highest moment of the season.
Even though Texas is the "better" roster on paper and they'll be at home, I'm going ot take Ole MIss Moneyline in this one. The Rebels offense should be able to throw the ball all over the Longhorns and I don't trust Arch Manning to be able to win this game on his own. As for the Over/Under, I like the Under/54.5 in a matchup I see Ole Miss winning 28-20.
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-Z.D.
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