The Saturday Dispatch Section T · Texas
SEC · 2026 season · 6-2, 3-2 SEC · No. 11 in the Oct 25 AP poll

Texas Longhorns (11)

Week 9 · graded · next: Missouri
Texas 31, Mississippi State 3
Final · Saturday, Oct 31 · DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium · graded Sunday, Nov 1 · next: Texas at Missouri, Saturday, Nov 7 · kickoff TBD · Memorial Stadium · scouting report Monday
The recap → Two-minute read → The scouting report →
The Week 9 Recap
Recap · graded Nov 1
31–3
The final; we said Texas 36–15
9 / 5 / 2
Claims right / partly / wrong
5 / 1 / 0
Storylines: mattered / minor / didn't
Right winner, the margin light and the total heavy: PARTLY. We said Texas 36, Mississippi State 15; Texas won 31–3, the market off by 7 and the model by 11.5. Cam Coleman's 47 and 14-yard touchdown opened it, Rasheem Biles had three of seven Texas sacks, and his strip of AJ Swann became Maraad Watson's fumble-return touchdown. The Bulldogs' 3 points came after a strip-sack of Arch Manning, one of five Texas allowed. Both WRONG chips went Mississippi State's way: the Texas line against the Bulldog front, and the kicking game.
Our prediction was PARTLY right: we had Texas winning 36 to 15, and Texas won 31 to 3. Texas scored on its first drive, its defense sacked Mississippi State's quarterbacks seven times and scored on a fumble, and Mississippi State managed one field goal. Our two WRONG calls both went Mississippi State's way: its defensive line beat Texas's run blocking, and it punted better.
Three tells, graded: sacks and hurries on Manning over his first 20 dropbacks, PARTLY (four by the play-by-play; five sacks in all) · Texas's first 15 carries by a back, RIGHT (2.4, and the pressure got worse) · Mississippi State's first 10 third downs, PARTLY (four; 3 points). Read the recap
Open the two-minute read →
Press conferences · Week 9 · Mississippi State
Coach · Oct 31 · Postgame press conference (Texas Athletics) · Steve Sarkisian addresses the media following Texas' 31-3 win over Mississippi State.
Coach · Oct 29 · Media availability (Texas Athletics) · Hear from Head Coach Steve Sarkisian before this weekend's game against Mississippi State
Coach · Oct 26 · Press conference (Texas Athletics) · Hear from Head Coach Steve Sarkisian as he recaps this past weekend's game and looks ahead to Mississippi State
Coach · Oct 25 · Postgame press conference (Texas Athletics) · Steve Sarkisian addresses the media after the Longhorns' win.
Players, as reported · Oct 28 · Longhorns Daily News: Texas basketball’s Austin Goosby included on Jerry West Award preseason watch list (Burnt Orange Nation)
Player interviews are posted on the official channel, youtube.com/@TexasLonghorns.
Checked Nov 2. Video is linked from the official Texas Athletics site, with no transcripts. When the school posts no player session, beat coverage from Burnt Orange Nation is linked instead, with no quote text.
Season archive
Week 10 · Missouri · Sat Nov 7 · kickoff TBD · Memorial Stadium, Columbia · Monday scouting report, Saturday pregame read, Sunday recap Next
Week 9 · Mississippi State · W 31–3 · Recap · Two-minute read · Scouting report Graded
Week 8 · Ole Miss · W 34–27 · Recap · Two-minute read · Scouting report Graded
Week 7 · Florida · L 24–27 · Recap · Two-minute read · Scouting report Graded
Week 6 · Oklahoma, Dallas · L 24–27 · Recap · Two-minute read · Scouting report Graded
Week 5 · bye · no game Oct 3 · The bye week report Regraded
Week 4 · at Tennessee · W 20–17 · Recap · Two-minute read · Scouting report Graded
Week 3 · UTSA · W 30–6 · Recap · Two-minute read · Scouting report Graded
Week 2 · Ohio State · W 24–23 · Recap · Two-minute read · Scouting report Graded
Week 1 · Texas State · W 59–7 · Recap · Scouting report Graded
2026 Preseason Report · the season baseline, published Aug 26 2026 Season Card · the one-page season view
The words we use
The words we use
The call is the final score we are predicting. We write it down before the game and leave it alone, the way you would write your guess on a napkin before kickoff and not touch it after.
The market is the betting line, which is the number of points the people wagering real money expect the favorite to win by. Those people have been better at this than our computer so far, so our call leans on their number.
The model is our computer's own guess at the score, built from the season's numbers. We print it next to the betting line so you can see when the two agree and when they do not.
Tells are three early signs to watch in the first stretch of the game. If they show up, the game is going the way we said; if they do not, we were probably wrong, and you will know it before we do.
Edges are our answer, one matchup at a time, to the question of which team has the better side of it.
Graded means that on Sunday we go back over everything we said and mark each piece right, partly right, or wrong.
Gameday songs and yells
The Eyes of Texas · the school song, sung arm in arm after the game · Longhorn Band · the crowd at DKR · Lyrics
Texas Fight · the fight song, after every touchdown and extra point; the crowd swaps in "Give 'em hell, give 'em hell, go Horns go" · Longhorn Band · Lyrics
March Grandioso · the band's pregame entrance, wall to wall across the field · Longhorn Band · Traditions
The Texas Fight yell · half the stadium yells "Texas," the other half answers "Fight" · plus the Whisper Chant and the old yells, words on the Texas Exes yells page