Ole Miss goes to Austin on Saturday as the road underdog, the same role it carried into Gainesville, where Florida won 52-28. This time the Rebels arrive off a 31-3 win over Missouri, and Texas’s leading pass rusher, who leads the FBS with 10.5 sacks, is listed as doubtful on the first SEC availability report.
Locked On Ole Miss host Steven Willis, a guest on Locked On College Football, rejected the comparison. “This isn’t exactly the same thing that Ole Miss went through with the thing at Gainesville,” he said. The Florida loss followed the emotional LSU week, Willis said, while Missouri was a game where “no emotional capital was spent.”
He did not wave Texas off. If the Longhorns fix themselves, Willis said, “I don’t know if there’s anything that Ole Miss can do.” But he pointed to a defense that has allowed 20 points across its last two games. “If Texas has the crisis of confidence that they are currently going through and it continues for another week and Ole Miss plays clean, yeah, Ole Miss is going to win the game.”
Willis put the matchup in the trenches, with the interior of the Texas offensive line lining up against Will Echoles. Without the Longhorns’ top edge rusher, he said, Ole Miss no longer has to keep running backs and tight ends in to help protect Trinidad Chambliss, and can “kind of play Texas straight up.”
Then there is timing. Texas led Oklahoma 17-7 at halftime and Florida 17-3 late in the first half, and lost both games by three. “I think you almost want to defer in this game and just play the middle 8 game with Texas a little bit,” Willis said. Kickoff is 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC.
Photo: Trinidad Chambliss, October 17, 2026, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images.
Adapted from the October 23, 2026 episode of Locked On College Football, featuring Locked On Ole Miss host Steven Willis, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Watch the full episode.