Texas State Head Coach Reveals Early Thoughts on Season Opener vs. Texas

Texas football will take a different approach this upcoming season than it did last, at least in terms of pre-conference games.

Instead of traveling miles from Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium to play against then-defending national champions Ohio State, the Longhorns will begin their season at home in Austin against next-door neighbors, the Texas State Bobcats.

Although the Bobcats certainly aren’t the Buckeyes, that doesn’t mean that Texas State will be just an absolutely cupcake team to bolster Texas’ resume before SEC play opens. Texas State head coach GJ Kinne discussed the upcoming match Wednesday, noting his own preseason expectations of Texas and how to prepare his own team for the season-opener.

GJ Kinne Has High Expectations for The Texas Longhorns

Texas State head coach GJ Kinne holds up trophy after the Bobcats defeated the Rice Owls. — Dec 26, 2023; Dallas, TX, USA; Texas State Bobcats head coach GJ Kinne holds up the trophy after his team defeated the Rice Owls at Gerald J Ford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-Imagn Images | Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

Kinne has been the football head coach at Texas State since December 2022, leading the Bobcats to eight wins and the program’s first-ever appearance in a bowl game during his first season in San Marcos. His second season saw Texas State win back-to-back bowl games, with consecutive winning seasons for the first time since the 2008-09 seasons.

Now, Kinne is planning for a matchup against the Longhorns that will open up this upcoming season and establish a narrative within his program.

“Unfortunately I’ve thought about it a lot,” Kinne said in a press conference Wednesday. “Obviously I have a ton of respect for Coach Sark and what he’s building over there.”

Kinne has high expectations for Texas, saying that he believes it has a chance to be preseason No. 1 yet again. Last season, the Longhorns ranked at the top of the AP Poll preseason for the first time in program history before those expectations were shattered with a season-opening loss to Ohio State and ending the year with a bowl game against Michigan in Orlando.

Even so, Kinne doesn’t doubt that Texas has pulled together the pieces to be one of the best teams in the country again.

“I’m sure they’ll be preseason No. 1 in the country again,” Kinne said. “They’ve got their quarterback back, added some big-time players in the portal, got some coaches back, Coach Muschamp and Coach Gideon came back. They’re gonna be really good, obviously super well-prepared and one of the best, if not the best, teams in the country.”

"Unfortunately I have thought about it a lot."

GJ Kinne had jokes today talking about the season opener for Texas State this year against Texas.

Hear from the Bobcats HC on the matchup against the Longhorns ⤵️#HookEm | #EatEmUp pic.twitter.com/Z1zy6S4XFB
— Noah Gross (@noah_gross27) January 21, 2026

With quarterback Arch Manning returning for another year, the hirings of defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and secondary coach Blake Gideon and the signings of Cam Coleman and Co. from the transfer portal, Texas indeed is looking like a dangerous prospect.

This game marks the first time that the Longhorns and the Bobcats will meet in DKR — and the first time that the two will meet since 1930, during which the Longhorns won 36-0.

The match-up will take place Saturday, Sept. 5 when football season rolls back into session.

“We’re excited about having to go out there and compete,” Kinne said. “But we go into every game with a chip on our shoulder, excited to go play whoever we play. But yeah, that’ll definitely be a cool one.”