Tennessee will host the No. 1 team in the nation on Saturday when Texas visits Neyland Stadium.

The Longhorns climbed to No. 1 thanks to their win against Ohio State earlier this month in Austin.

While Texas is currently at the top of the rankings, they aren’t getting much hype. In fact, it feels like a lot of the national media is “down” on the Longhorns after their “ugly” 30-6 win over UTSA last weekend.

Texas quarterback Arch Manning didn’t have a good game, and numerous analysts were quick to point that out.

As Texas begins SEC play this week, I’ll be circling Arch Manning vs. Tennessee. Simply put, the UTSA film is rough.

Sailing passes, predetermining reads, bad footwork, and dropping his eyes prematurely to tuck and run.

How will he respond in a tough environment? Let’s see.

— Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) September 21, 2026

Because of the tough offensive showing against UTSA (and for three quarters against Ohio State), plenty of analysts have put the Longhorns on upset alert this weekend in Knoxville.

Tennessee, however, doesn’t need to buy into that narrative — especially after what Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said about the Longhorns’ performance against UTSA.

Sarkisian pointed out that Texas kind of took their foot off the gas — from a focus standpoint — against UTSA.

“I felt like Arch was a microcosm of a little bit of the bigger picture Saturday night,” said Sarkisian. “We were just kind of — we got lethargic. We scored 17 points. I think we thought we were just going to go up and down the field like a scrimmage. And credit to UTSA, they battled. They fought and they created a little pressure. We weren’t quite as in sync as we want to be.”

The Vols shouldn’t look at Texas as an offense that’s struggling. They shouldn’t expect the Longhorns to play like they did on Saturday against UTSA.

Games like that can be tough for a team to get up for. The UTSA game was sandwiched between a huge game against Ohio State and the SEC opener against Tennessee.

Texas will have a lot more juice against Tennessee on Saturday.

I’m not saying the Longhorns are suddenly going to be firing on all cylinders — I have no idea how they’re going to play — but this is a Texas team that has the talent and the ability to be the best offense in the nation when things are clicking.

And that’s what Tennessee should be preparing for this week.