The optimist will point out that the Texas Tech football team found a way to win a non-conference road game for the first time since 2017 by surviving Oregon State 35-24 Saturday night in Corvallis. However, the bar for this program should be much higher than simply surviving against a Group of 6 team.
Unfortunately, the realist now has to come to grips with the fact that this year's version of the Red Raiders is light-years away from being good enough to compete for a National Title. In fact, the week-two close call against a team that Tech was a 25.5 home underdog exposed too many flaws in this team to count. Here are a few that stood out the most.
Texas Tech's offensive line simply isn't up to par
Prior to this game, many Red Raiders (myself included) assumed that the offensive line would maul an Oregon State defensive front that gave up 228 rushing yards to Houston a week ago. That didn't happen. In fact, the Red Raider O-line was inept for most of the game.
Tech finished with 177 rushing yards when you take away the yards lost on sacks. That came on 42 carries. An average of just 4.2 yards per rush against a defense as poor as Oregon State's isn't going to cut it. What's more, if you factor out J'Koby Williams' 38-yard TD scamper in the third quarter, Tech averaged only 3.3 yards per carry (when sacks were not factored in).
Speaking of sacks, the Beavers were able to get to Will Hammond four times. It was a poor night for most of the line when pass blocking, but especially for right tackle Jacob Ponton, who surrendered multiple sacks and was penalized twice.
The line was supposed to be upgraded from last year. That's what we were led to believe all offseason. However, through two games, that unit has not lived up to the hype, especially on the ground.
Any thoughts of the 2026 defense being on par with the 2025 defense were just a fantasy
On the other side of the ball, Texas Tech was just as suspect. The Beavers were able to carve up the Red Raider defense for 472 yards, with 403 of those coming through the air.
OSU true freshman wide receiver Jessee Legree went nuclear with 240 yards and two TDs on only eight catches. That's an insane average of 30 yards per catch.
While the Red Raider secondary was noticeably poor, the bigger issue was that the Tech defensive line proved unable to get a consistent pass rush, especially in the second half. Though OSU quarterback Braden Atkinson threw the ball 49 times in the game, Tech managed only two sacks.
High-profile transfer Adam Trick is yet to record a sack this year and had only two tackles for the entire game. What's more, Kent State transfer Jamond Mathis couldn't follow up his 2.5-sack Red Raider debut with another big showing, as he finished with only one tackle.
Tech played its second game without the player assumed to be the best pass rusher on the team, Trey White, a transfer from San Diego State. He is expected to be back in week three, and this team desperately needs him to bring some juice off the edge because what we saw from the pass rush in Corvallis wasn't good enough.
Mack Leftwich has to open up the offense
Finally, the Red Raiders have to get a better game plan from offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich. We were told the game-one attack was purposefully vanilla. If that's the case, what was the excuse for the head-scratching scheme against the Beavers?
Leftwich repeatedly tried to run the ball straight into the heart of the OSU defense, even when there were seven men or more in the box. It seemed as if he was hell-bent on running the ball on first and second down all night, even though the offensive line was unable to open holes in the defense.
When Tech did throw the ball and Hammond had time in the pocket, the results were good. He ended the night 20-27 for 189 yards and one massive fourth-quarter touchdown to Coy Eakin, a play that gave Tech the lead for good at 28-24.
So why not rely on Hammond's arm more consistently, especially when it was evident that the ground attack was stuck in neutral? What's more, why not try to stretch the field more than just averaging 7.0 yards per attempt? Hammond's longest pass completion of the night went for just 38 yards. It felt like that was a design flaw in the offense, because it is hard to recall any deep shots until the Eakin touchdown in the final quarter.
Leftwich has called two sub-par games to start the season. Just like the team he coaches, he hasn't been good enough, and that has to change quickly with Big 12 play beginning in week three.
Add us as a preferred source on Google