The Mississippi State Bulldogs started the 2026 season 4-0, outscoring their opponents 172-84 behind the strong play of sophomore quarterback Kamario Taylor. Five weeks later, the Bulldogs are 4-3 and Taylor is officially done for the year.

Now, they head to Austin to play a No. 11 Texas Longhorns team coming off a rejuvenating win against the Ole Miss Rebels. However, Texas fans cannot count out Mississippi State.

The Longhorns already lost to an unranked team starting a backup quarterback at home this season when the Florida Gators embarrassed them two weeks ago. Florida's offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner and quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. were able to out-scheme Texas' defense in that match-up, eking out a 27-24 victory.

Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lebby and quarterback Parker Puckett have the chance to do the same thing on Saturday. Here is why the Mississippi State offense could still give the Longhorns a scare on Halloween.

Why The Mississippi State Bulldogs Are Still a Threat

Lebby is a practitioner of the 'Veer-and-Shoot' offense, which spreads defenses way out, threatens them vertically until they lighten the box and then attacks those under-manned fronts with the run. Lebby's flavor of the scheme also includes a constant up-tempo pace, a tricky run game, and lots of pre-snap shifts and motions.

The Longhorns held a Veer-and-Shoot Ole Miss offense to just 20 points last weekend; however, the Rebels and Bulldogs run the scheme in very different ways. Chief among those differences is the run-pass split, as the Rebels run the ball on just 44.3% of plays while the Bulldogs pound the ground 51.6% of the time.

One might expect the Bulldogs to go away from the run as they transition from the hyper-athletic Taylor to former unranked recruit Puckett; however, their ground game has not missed a beat. Against the fearsome Oklahoma Sooners defense, Mississippi State ran the ball 29 times, after removing sacks, at a 6.2-yard-per-carry clip with a 55% success rate.

They were particularly effective at attacking the under-manned boxes that the Sooners were using so that they could better cover the Veer-and-Shoot's spread-out passing game. Committing fewer defenders to the run has been a frequent answer to the potent scheme, one that Texas has regularly implemented.

Puckett's athleticism and Lebby's use of motion and unique backfield actions have kept the Bulldogs' ground attack unpredictable. However, the inexperienced passer still has his limitations.

The Difference Between Puckett and Taylor, and Why it Matters to Texas

The biggest aspect Lebby's offense lost with Taylor was its downfield passing game. Puckett simply cannot drive the ball with the consistency that Taylor could.

On top of targeting areas further down the field less, Puckett also grades out worse at every level beyond the line of scrimmage, according to PFF. This could allow Muschamp to pivot from his usual light-box strategy and put more bodies around the line of scrimmage, daring the Bulldogs to test his defensive backs.

If Muschamp can take advantage of a limited, inexperienced passer, Texas will claim its second-straight victory, continuing its rebound after back-to-back losses earlier this season.