Texas Tech heads to Corvallis on Saturday with the No. 13 ranking, Big 12 title expectations and a hefty 26 1/2-point edge, but Oregon State’s passing game gives this trip a wrinkle worth watching.
The centerpiece is new Beavers quarterback Braden Atkinson, who made his FBS debut last week and immediately showed why the Red Raiders’ defense has been studying him closely. In Oregon State’s 33-20 loss at Houston, the Mercer transfer threw for 376 yards and completed 29 of 48 passes. One of those completions was a 71-yard touchdown to Jesse Legree, a freshman from Baltimore who finished with five catches for 136 yards.
Texas Tech defensive coordinator Shiel Wood came away impressed after reviewing the tape.
"Confident in the pocket," Tech defensive coordinator Shiel Wood said on Monday, Sept. 7.
"Able to see down the field. Didn't let the rush affect him.
Kept his eyes down the field. Made some really good throws kind of in tight spaces.
… And then did a nice job with ball placement down the field."
Atkinson’s résumé goes back well before that Houston performance. He was a North Carolina all-state quarterback at Rolesville High School, then put up huge numbers as a freshman at Mercer last season, passing for 3,596 yards and 34 touchdowns. He also had eight 300-yard games and set a school record with 533 yards against Virginia Military Institute.
Tech cornerback Brice Pollock said the Beavers’ offense shows up on film in a variety of ways, and not just with the deep ball.
"I've seen some receivers that can really push you vertical," Tech cornerback Brice Pollock said Tuesday of his Oregon State video study. "They're really good at that.
Pretty good quarterback. He knows how to stand in there and make good throws.
We're just going to have to be disciplined - a lot of unbalanced, a lot of tricky formations. (Against) things like that, we've got to trust our keys and trust our technique."
That discipline will matter for a Tech defense that already handled one passing game well. In last week’s 33-10 win over Abilene Christian, the Red Raiders allowed only 119 passing yards and nothing longer than 18 yards, even with Peyton Morgan and Malik Esquerra making their first starts at safety.
Senior safety Brenden Jordan is out for Tech’s first two games because of a team rules violation, and Morgan has taken over Jordan’s in-helmet communication role with co-defensive coordinator Rob Greene. Pollock said the adjustment has been manageable.
"Brenden's like my partner in crime," Pollock said, "so it's been a little different having him not out there, but I've been getting real used to Peyton and Malik out there. Peyton is a great communicator. I think he knows how to really project his voice out there, too."
Oregon State’s explosive plays against Houston came in different forms. The Beavers had six completions of more than 20 yards and five more between 14 and 19 yards. Wood said the variety is what makes the challenge real.
"And they got to them all different ways - vertical stuff down the field, some post/wheel actions and then just some underneath stuff that became explosive plays," Wood said, "so we'll have to be on it this Saturday in terms of making sure we're detailed in our coverage and some of the more challenging patterns that they throw at you."
There’s also pressure on Oregon State’s new staff. The Beavers are now coached by JaMarcus Shepard, who spent the last four years as assistant head coach to Kalen DeBoer at Washington and Alabama. Tech, meanwhile, already owns a 45-14 win over Oregon State from last season’s meeting in Lubbock.
The Red Raiders’ pass rush has shown flashes too. Houston sacked Atkinson four times, while Tech got to Abilene Christian quarterback John David Black three times, including 2 1/2 sacks from Kent State transfer Jamond Mathis in his first game as a Red Raider.
Mateen Ibirogba said the defensive front feels close to putting everything together.
"We thought we did good," defensive tackle Mateen Ibirogba said of the defensive line as a whole. "We had a lot of plays we made.
We worked together. I felt like we're this close to really figuring it out.
What we want to improve is just really getting the communication (down) and getting the extra push in pass rush."
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