AUSTIN — The No. 22 Texas Longhorns are in a completely different spot from where they were last year; new faces and underwhelming performances have been dominating the headlines for Texas up to this point.

The offense has been struggling, lethargically pulling off victories, like the 16-13 overtime win over Kentucky on Saturday, and it has not been looking exactly like what you’d expect a Steve Sarkisian offense to look like.

On the other hand, the defense has been playing championship-caliber. It’s been playing like it could be the best in the country, except for its performance against the Florida Gators a few weeks ago, and has been a major contributor to Texas’ success so far.

As the Longhorns approach their matchup against Mississippi State on Saturday, Sarkisian was asked about how this year’s matchup against the Bulldogs is different from last year’s.

“We had a lot of different faces last year as opposed to this year,” Sarkisian said. “You know, it’s different. It’s a different group. I think, for them, they’ve evolved as a defense, too. They’re a much deeper defense that is playing a lot of players, especially in the front. They’ve evolved schematically. They’re not, you know, playing the same exact style. They have some principles that remain the same a year ago, but they evolved. They’re playing a lot more confidently, especially in the back end. Their ability to attack the football at Mississippi State definitely jumps off the tape. They create interceptions, they attack the ball.”

Sarkisian and the offense will need to fix their issues quickly and find a way to work around the Bulldogs’ defense, which, like Sarkisian said, has evolved, is playing more confidently, and is creating interceptions.

Although quarterback Arch Manning hasn’t been terrible with creating turnovers, he’s struggled to throw the ball accurately and make good decisions, which is something that the Mississippi State defense could easily take advantage of.

The Texas defense could likely end up being the star of the show again, but it would be nice to see the offense finally have a good, productive game against a conference opponent. Texas will also finally have running back CJ Baxter back after injury.

Hopefully, we’ll be able to see a revamped Texas offense hit the field on Saturday, but we’ll only know what product we’re going to get when the game kicks off at 3:15 p.m. CT on SEC Network from Starkville on Saturday.