Texas Longhorns Defense is Treating Ohio State Like Any Other Game

While the media treats the matchup this weekend as monumental, one Texas player is training like any other week.

Texas Longhorns defensive end Lance Jackson (40) during the game between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Texas sophomore defensive edge Lance Jackson understands what Ohio State represents.

He just doesn't seem particularly interested in treating it differently.

For the sophomore Texas edge rusher, Saturday's matchup against the No. 1 Buckeyes is another game on the schedule, another week of preparation and another opportunity to do what the Longhorns expect from themselves every week.

"There may be tweaks in your game plan, but it definitely is just another game," Jackson said. "We're going to prepare just like we did last week for Texas State. We're going to treat this week like next week and the next week after that."

That might be the simplest way to describe Jackson's approach to a game that virtually everyone else has spent the better part of the week making anything but ordinary.

This isn't the same mentality for everyone else

Ohio State Buckeyes defensive lineman Kayden McDonald (98) tackles Texas Longhorns running back CJ Baxter (4) during the NCAA football game at Ohio Stadium on Aug. 30, 2025. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Ohio State is the nation's top-ranked team. Texas is No. 4. The Buckeyes beat the Longhorns twice in the year of 2025, including a 14-7 victory in Columbus that opened Arch Manning's first season as Texas' full-time starter. The rematch also comes with national-title implications and the kind of national attention rarely attached to a regular-season game this early in the year.

Manning, for one, hasn't tried to downplay the moment.

"I'm excited to get to play Ohio State," Manning said Monday. "This is why you come to a school like Texas, to play in these big-time games. We're excited."

Jackson's message is different.

The preparation, he said, shouldn't change simply because the opponent has a bigger name.

"I feel like you don't really look at a team and be like, 'Oh, I'm going to practice harder this week, or I'm going to go a little bit harder this week because I'm playing Ohio State,'" Jackson said. "Every week, you've got to come with it."

That doesn't mean Jackson doesn't understand what's at stake. He wants to win. He simply doesn't see value in allowing last year's results or this year's hype to change the way Texas approaches the game.

"We definitely want to go in and win the game," Jackson said. "But we're not — I mean, this is a whole new year. We're not really thinking about last year. You had a bunch of new players. They had new guys, too."

That mindset stands in contrast to the way the game has been framed outside the Longhorns' locker room.

Sarkisian has praised Ohio State as the No. 1 team in the country for a reason, while the national media has turned the matchup into one of the defining games of the early college football season.

Jackson, meanwhile, keeps bringing the conversation back to routine.

For him, the opponent's ranking doesn't change the work.

Ohio State may make the game bigger. Jackson doesn't want it to make Texas' preparation any different.

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram for the latest news.