Two fourth-quarter drives settled it
Oregon State led with 13 minutes left. Caleb Ojeda’s 34-yard field goal had put them 24-21 up and a second straight ranked scalp was in view. It lasted six and a half minutes.
Will Hammond found Coy Eakin for 32 yards at the 6:31 mark, and No. 13 Texas Tech had the lead back. Thomas Castellanos, the backup, closed it out with an 8-yard throw to Matt Ludwig at 1:03. Final score 35-24, and the Red Raiders are 2-0.
Hammond’s night reads modest on paper: 20-of-27 for 189 yards. The damage came from elsewhere. Cameron Dickey plunged in from a yard out to finish an 11-play, 73-yard drive before halftime. J’Koby Williams carried 20 times for a game-high 116 yards and broke a 38-yard run in the third quarter.
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Oregon State keep losing the same way
Braden Atkinson threw for 399 yards, two touchdowns and one interception on 29-of-49 passing. Jesse Legree caught eight of those balls for 240 yards and both scores, including a 75-yard strike ten seconds after Castellanos had opened the scoring with a 7-yard run. The Beavers even had a running back throw a touchdown, AJ Newberry finding Atkinson for four yards in the third quarter.
They outgained Texas Tech 472-351 and still lost. The reason sits in one line of the box score: 21 carries, 69 yards. Without a ground game, Atkinson had to win every possession through the air, and that arithmetic breaks down in the fourth quarter.
This is the second week running Oregon State have taken a ranked side deep and finished with nothing. They pushed No. 23 Houston last weekend before losing 33-20. At 0-2 they have plenty to like on tape and no result to point at.
Where Texas Tech stand
Two games, two wins, and a road trip survived in a stadium that stayed loud until the last minute. Castellanos handling the closing drive rather than Hammond is worth filing away, because coaches do not hand the final possession to a backup by accident.
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