With less than 24 hours until the Lone Star Showdown kicked off from Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, the Longhorns and the Aggies released their availability reports, which are required by the SEC.
While Texas would be missing linebacker Ty'Anthony Smith and star linebacker Anthony Hill Jr., who was listed as questionable, the reports were actually pretty good news for the Horns.
The Texas A&M Aggies would not only be missing a handful of defensive players, but their star running back, Le'Veon Moss, was still listed as "OUT," knocking the powerhouse offensive unit down a notch ahead of the rivalry matchup.
Injuries are worse for Texas A&M than Texas
Alongside Moss on the Aggies' injury report were linebacker Scooby Williams, as well as safeties Bryce Anderson and Rashad Johnson Jr.
A beat-up defensive secondary is perfect for the Texas offense, which has an extremely young offensive line and a quarterback who is only now truly finding his footing against SEC opponents.
Thursday’s update of the SEC Student-Athlete Availability Report ahead of Friday’s Lone Star Showdown in Austin: pic.twitter.com/ODyLQM97AG
— TexAgs (@TexAgs) November 28, 2025
Over the last four games, Texas QB1 Arch Manning has looked like the dominant player everyone expected him to be, even when the Longhorns lost to the Georgia Bulldogs. Manning has averaged 328.5 passing yards per game for a total of 14 touchdowns (passing, rushing, and receiving) and only two interceptions.
The Horns are peaking at the exact right time, while the Aggies are dealing with a handful of injuries that could greatly affect their success rate on both sides of the ball (just look at their abysmal first half against the South Carolina Gamecocks from two weeks ago).
As Texas A&M comes to Austin for the first time in over a decade, Texas is looking to get its third consecutive win over its rival, despite being the underdogs at home. An upset victory could knock the Aggies out of the SEC Championship game and could propel the Horns to a berth in the College Football Playoffs.
This week, the No. 16 Longhorns (8-3 overall, 5-2 SEC) and the No. 3 Aggies (11-0 overall, 7-0 SEC) are scheduled to kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday, Nov. 28, and the game will be broadcast on ABC.