One SEC team is built specifically to challenge the Texas Longhorns in 2026

Texas Longhorns On SI · Jul 22, 2026 23:15 · 3 min read

One SEC Team Is Built Specifically to Challenge the Texas Longhorns in 2026 — Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian gestures after a game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Of the nine SEC matchups that Texas will endure throughout the season, this one could represent their biggest challenge yet.

Alright, the cobwebs should be all shaken off for the Texas Longhorns by now.

The Steve Sarkisian game plan has been well implemented on both sides of the line of scrimmage, quarterback Arch Manning has a full season of starting under his belt, and as if that's not helpful enough, Texas went and signed one of the country's best wide receivers to pair with him.

Many have the Longhorns as favorites to win the SEC as well as the national championship, and for good reason.

But there is one conference opponent that has been carefully engineered to challenge Sarkisian's men, and it's not Oklahoma or Texas A&M or even Tennessee.

It's the LSU Tigers.

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LSU new head coach Lane Kiffin speaks at South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

On November 14th of this year, the Longhorns take a trip to the Louisiana state capital to take on the LSU Tigers, who endured a roller coaster 2025 season that saw them as high as No. 3 in the AP Top 25, before a string of embarrassing games saw them out of the rankings and head coach Brian Kelly out of a job before long.

Enter Lane Kiffin.

If there is anyone who knows Steve Sarkisian and what he is capable of, it's the former Ole Miss coach.

The two's deep history of coaching includes both of them coaching under Pete Carroll with the USC Trojans in the early 2000s during their national championship runs, and Sarkisian would later replace Kiffin as offensive coordinator at both USC and with the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2019 under another legendary head coach in Nick Saban.

With both men now manning two powerhouses in the western portion of the SEC, the games have already begun well before the opening kick has gone in the air for either team in the season, with Kiffin having already flipped a few Texas commits, and he seems to have his eye firmly on Easton Royal as well.

Not to mention the environment that Tiger Stadium is sure to provide at this point in the season, with both teams expected to be near the top of the ranks late in the campaign, and it will serve as one of the toughest road trips that the Horns will have to endure during the season, not that that has held them back from success in recent years.

A win for the Tigers would serve as a major statement and a chance for LSU to truly control its own destiny as the College Football Playoff looms closer at this point, while a loss for Texas would serve as a heartbreaking step back and a reminder of the Georgia game late last season that likely put the dagger in Texas' playoff chances.

The first meeting between the two since the 2019 season is sure to be quite the slobberknocker, with a battle of elite head coaches, Heisman Trophy-worthy quarterbacks, game-wrecking defenses, as well as CFP seeding all playing factors in Baton Rouge on November 14.

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