The No. 7 Ole Miss Rebels are traveling to Austin, Texas, to take on the No. 19 Texas Longhorns this Saturday.
The game is coming at a crucial time for both teams' College Football Playoff hopes. Texas has already taken two losses and cannot afford another one if they want to guarantee themselves a spot in the playoffs. Ole Miss has one loss, and a second this weekend would mean it would also likely have to win out the rest of the season to make the playoffs.
Both of Texas' losses have come in its last two games against Oklahoma and No. 20 Florida. In both games, Texas quarterback Arch Manning has struggled with turnovers at crucial moments.
Although Manning and the Longhorns have been disappointing this season, Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding still has praise for the team.
What Pete Golding Said About Texas' Offense
Golding knows Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian well; the two spent multiple years together on Alabama's coaching staff, including 2019 and 2020, when Sarkisian was the team's offensive coordinator and Golding was the team's defensive coordinator.
"He's one of the best play-callers in the country, and it's not close," Golding said of Sarkisian this week. "What's unique about this year, to me, is when you watch them on tape, they've had a lot of bad luck."
He specifically mentioned dropped passes that led to interceptions as an example of the Longhorns' bad luck and added that Manning was still an elite player despite inconsistency.
"The conception that he's not an elite player right now is crazy to me," Golding said of Manning. "I'll get you a 25-play cutup, and he should be the top pick in the draft, and then there's other things that, to this point, he'd probably like to have back."
Golding would also reiterate that while Texas may be in a slump right now, they still defeated No. 3 Ohio State, who were No. 1 at the time of the game, and the Longhorns were ranked No. 1 for multiple weeks this season.
Another storyline heading into this Saturday's game is that Texas running back Hollywood Smothers is questionable to play. Smothers is Texas' leading rusher in carries and yards, but his teammate Raleek Brown is right with him and could likely match his production.
Golding said that Smothers and Brown would "start at most places in the country" and that one of the main traits of Sarkisian's offense has been getting the run game going to set up the play-action pass.
Despite early stumbles, Texas at its peak is a national-championship contender. Golding understands the Longhorns' coaching and on-field talent and will not underestimate Ole Miss' opponent this Saturday in Austin.
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