San Jose State heads to Austin this weekend for Texas' home-opener on Saturday, and it should be a great opportunity for Arch Manning and Co. to get back on track in 2025. Though there are going to be other exciting personnel matchups throughout the game, the offensive line/defensive line battle should be pretty exciting despite the overall talent discrepancy between the two teams.
Let's dive into the top two trench matchups of the day:
Texas C Cole Hutson vs. SJSU NT Gafa Faga
Hutson had a great game against Ohio State last week, but he'll have another worthy opponent in week two against San Jose State's NT Gafa Faga. Faga is one of the best defensive tackles in the Mountain West Conference, and he's a preseason 1st-team All-MWC pick.
Not many highlights for Arch Manning, but the throw to Parker Livingstone for the TD certainly was.
— CJ Vogel (@CJVogel_OTF) September 1, 2025
Great protection, passing off the edge to Cole Hutson, Connor Stroh staying home on a coffee house stunt and Trevor Goosby forcing his man to run the circle here.
Thought we’d… pic.twitter.com/rMi65hFtfU
He was an honorable mention All-MWC player in 2024 when he totaled 46 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, and 1 sack. If Hutson is going to have success against the 6'2", 305-pound nose tackle on Saturday, he's going to have to be technically sound and anchor down at the point of attack against Faga's bull rushes.
SJSU LT Peseti Lapuaho vs. Texas DE Colin Simmons
Despite being undersized (6'4", 285 lbs.), Lapuaho is no slouch as a pass protector at offensive tackle. Playing in San Jose State's pass-heavy offense has allowed him to hone his craft every week, and he was part of an offensive line that only allowed 12 total sacks in 2024.
Colin Simmons is probably the best pass rusher that he's faced throughout his short FBS career, though, and it'll be interesting to see if Lapuaho can slow down Simmons on Saturday. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that it'll be harder for Simmons to get to SJSU QB Walker Eget than some think, but he'll still end up sacking Eget at least once and pressuring him multiple times throughout the game.