Oregon State spent Saturday afternoon dragging No. 13 Texas Tech into a fight it probably didn’t expect.
In the first home game of the JaMarcus Shephard era, the Beavers pushed the reigning Big 12 champions to the edge before falling 35-24 at Reser Stadium. It was a far different scene from a year ago, when Oregon State stumbled through a 2-10 season. This time, the 25.5-point underdog went punch for punch with a Texas Tech team described in the source as extremely well-funded and athletically superior.
Texas Tech struck first on its third possession, when Tommy Castellanos finished a drive with a five-yard run. Oregon State answered in a hurry. Braden Atkinson hit Jesse Legree on a 75-yard touchdown, and just like that the game was tied 7-7 with 7:25 left in the first half.
The Red Raiders reclaimed control with an 11-play, 73-yard march capped by Cameron Dickey’s one-yard scoring leap on fourth-and-goal. But Oregon State kept finding ways back in.
The Beavers opened the second half with a three-and-out on defense, then went right down the field and tied the game again on a throwback pass from AJ Newberry to Atkinson, making it 14-13. Texas Tech answered when J’Koby Williams slipped free for a 38-yard touchdown and a 21-13 lead.
Oregon State refused to fade. Atkinson connected with Legree again, first for 22 yards and then for 37, with the latter going for a touchdown. Atkinson then ran in the two-point conversion to even things up once more.
The Red Raiders got a strange break at the end of the third quarter, when they ran a play as time expired and Will Hammond was stripped. Tyler Bailey recovered the fumble.
Caleb Ojeda’s 34-yard field goal put Oregon State in front 24-21 with 13:23 remaining, but Texas Tech had the last surge. Hammond found Coy Eakin for a 32-yard touchdown with 6:31 to play, swinging the lead back to the Red Raiders and setting them on the path to the 35-24 finish.
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Oregon State Lost Again But This Time Fans Saw Something Real
Against No. 13 Texas Tech, Oregon State finally gave its fans a game that looked like something sturdier than a rebuilding exercise. The Beavers fell 35-24, but the performance carried real signs of progress, from a defense that held up far better than expected to a freshman wide receiver who kept showing up in the passing game.
The loss still left plenty of frustration, yet the tone around the program sounded different afterward. The coach and players pointed to the effort, the improvement and the culture taking shape inside the team, with optimism that this was more than a one-off scrap against a ranked opponent. For Oregon State, the record did not change, but the sense of what the Beavers might be building clearly did. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Tech May Be Leaning On One New Pressure Point Vs Houston
Will Hammonds return has given Texas Tech a steadier look at quarterback after a rough stretch of health and expectations that had the sophomore easing back in later than he actually did. Instead, he opened the season under center right away and has been efficient through his first two starts, completing 76.7% of his passes for 487 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. For a team still searching for consistency on both sides of the ball, that kind of reliability has quickly become central to how the Red Raiders want to function.
The passing game has grown more important as Texas Tech tries to smooth out the early-season inconsistency, and Hammonds ability to keep the offense moving is shaping up as a key pressure point in the matchup with Houston. The bigger question now is how much the Red Raiders can keep leaning on that part of the game if the rest of the operation continues to come and go from week to week. [Read more 🡒]
Skyler Cassity Just Pointed To Oregon States Defensive Formula
Oklahoma States breakthrough over Oregon did more than end a long drought against FBS opponents, it offered a glimpse of the defensive identity Skyler Cassity is trying to build. In the 39-31 win, the Cowboys looked quicker and sharper, and Cassity said the work has centered on fundamentals and a more urgent style of play, the kind of approach that can travel even when the matchup gets bigger.
Cassity also framed it as part of a broader climb from what he helped shape in previous stops at Sam Houston and North Texas, where the defense has been trending in the right direction. The encouraging part for Oklahoma State is that the progress showed up against a power-conference opponent, and the deeper question now is whether that fast, disciplined formula can hold up once teams start forcing them to prove it again. [Read more 🡒]