Texas Tech left Oregon State with a 35-24 win, but the feeling around the Red Raiders is anything but clean. The result got them to 2-0, yet the trip also put plenty of familiar problems back in the spotlight: a secondary that gave up too much, an offense that still looks uneven, and a road performance that never really settled into comfort.
Still, the bottom line is the same. Texas Tech got out with a win, and sometimes that’s the only part that matters.
The bigger picture for the Red Raiders on the road remains hard to ignore. Texas Tech wants to play seven games inside Galaxy Stadium every season, with athletic director Kirby Hocutt pointing to the financial demands of the current college athletics era. There may be another reason, too: the Red Raiders have not exactly made a habit of looking sharp in non-conference road games.
That list now includes the double-overtime loss at Wyoming, the beatdown at Washington State, and this messy escape against a rebuilt Oregon State team. Even so, Joey McGuire picked up his first non-conference road win as Texas Tech’s head coach. It just didn’t come in a way that would leave anybody feeling great about the process.
One thing that did come through clearly: J'Koby Williams needs to be the lead back. The rotation is nice in theory, but the reality has been pretty simple so far.
Williams ripped off a 38-yard touchdown run on one drive, then watched the next possession turn into a three-and-out with Quinten Joyner getting the two short carries. The season is already underway, and the answer is sitting right there.
The offense could also stand to open things up a little more. Playing it safe is fine if the goal is to avoid mistakes, but it doesn’t exactly fit the Red Raiders’ personality.
Will Hammond has taken maybe three deep ball chances through the first two games, and two of them have gone for touchdowns, including the go-ahead strike to Coy Eakin late in the fourth quarter. That kind of shot should not be treated like a luxury.
The same goes for using Thomas Castellanos. There is value in putting him on the field, but the package works better if he’s allowed to throw more often. Texas Tech did that on the late touchdown pass from Castellanos to Matt Ludwig, and that’s the kind of wrinkle that should show up more.
And then there’s the favorite game everyone loves to play this time of year: the transitive property. Texas Tech barely escaped Oregon State, which almost beat Houston, which rolled Southern by a running clock.
Meanwhile, future Tech opponent Oklahoma State went off against Oregon, the same Ducks Texas Tech lost badly to in the Orange Bowl. A week earlier, Oregon had been handled by Tulsa, which then barely got past Sam Houston, Tech’s Week 4 opponent.
It’s a shaky way to measure anything, but it does add one more layer to a Texas Tech start that already feels uneven.
In Other News...
Texas Tech Fans Are Already Sounding The Alarm After Corvallis
Texas Techs first two games have left plenty of Red Raiders fans uneasy, and it is not hard to see why. A narrow win over Oregon State followed by a less convincing showing against Abilene Christian has already turned the early part of the season into a referendum on how sharp this team really is, with social media filling up quickly with complaints about penalties, play calling and the kind of execution that tends to separate a comfortable September from a tense one.
The frustration is less about one bad night than the feeling that the same concerns are showing up too early and too often. For a program that wanted cleaner football out of the gate, the online reaction has made clear that the leash is short and the patience is thinner, which means Texas Tech will have to answer some real questions on the field before the noise around Corvallis fades. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Techs First Road Test Will Answer One Big Defensive Question
Texas Techs first road trip of the season arrives with a chance to see how far this group has come, and it comes in a setting that usually tells on a team fast. The Red Raiders are headed to Reser Stadium in Corvallis to face Oregon State in a game that will air on CBS, and Joey McGuire made clear this is the kind of test he wants early. With Texas Tech sitting at 12-2 and Oregon State at 2-12, the record gap might look lopsided, but the value here is less about the matchup on paper and more about how the Red Raiders handle a different environment.
McGuire has talked about the importance of the road game and the standard he expects defensively, which is where the real interest lies for Texas Tech. Away from home, the Red Raiders will get a cleaner read on whether that side of the ball can travel and hold up when the surroundings change, the crowd gets louder, and the game asks for answers in tougher spots. For a team with bigger goals ahead, this is the kind of early-season trip that can confirm a lot without necessarily telling the whole story. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Techs 2-0 Start Just Put Its QB Situation In Focus
Texas Techs 35-24 win over Oregon State gave Joey McGuire plenty to like in the record column, but not nearly as much at quarterback. Will Hammond delivered a solid-enough stat line, hitting 20 of 27 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown, yet McGuire made it clear after the game that the Red Raiders need cleaner play from the position as the competition around him continues to take shape.
The concern was not just about the final numbers, either. McGuire pointed to turnovers, sacks and decision-making as the issues that need attention, while Florida State transfer Thomas Castellanos also saw snaps at quarterback. With Texas Tech off to a 2-0 start, the question now is less about whether the Red Raiders are winning and more about how settled their quarterback room really is. [Read more 🡒]