Ole Miss plays at Texas on Saturday night, and the scoring profiles barely overlap. The Rebels have scored 41, 41, 32, 28, 52 and 31 points in six games, 37.5 a game with a floor of 28 in their only loss. Texas has not topped 24 against any of its four power-four opponents. Ole Miss averages 444 total yards a game to Texas’s 313.
Locked On Ole Miss host Steven Willis built his case on that gap, arguing the Rebels’ worst offensive day this season is better than Texas’s best against a power-four team. He did not call the Texas defense bad, noting it allows 17.8 points a game, but put the difference between the offenses at more than 130 yards.
The run game has climbed every conference week: 63 yards against LSU, 128 at Florida, 196 at Vanderbilt and 257 against Missouri, 453 of them on 73 carries over the last two. Texas has run for 282 in its last three. Ole Miss holds a 36-19 edge in tackles for loss and has allowed 20 points total since Florida.
Willis said losing Texas’s best defender costs it what losing Trinidad Chambliss would cost Ole Miss. His keys were tempo, a snap every 23.5 seconds and eighth-fastest nationally; third and long, where Texas has converted eight of 36 over three games against a front led by Blake Purchase and Suntarine Perkins; and Kewan Lacy in the red zone.
Ole Miss has scored on every red-zone trip this year. Willis is watching Luke Ferrelli, the team’s leading tackler with 39, and Caleb Cunningham downfield. Texas led Oklahoma 17-7 and Florida 17-3 and lost both by three, so Willis called the middle eight decisive. The Rebels are underdogs, and he predicted Ole Miss 31, Texas 27.
Photo: Luke Ferrelli, September 19, 2026, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images.
Adapted from the October 23, 2026 episode of Locked On Ole Miss, hosted by Steven Willis, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Watch the full episode.