CORVALLIS, Ore. — Thomas Castellanos came on for third-and-7 from the Oregon State 8 with 1:04 left and threw 8 yards to true freshman tight end Matt Ludwig, his first touchdown pass as a Red Raider. The score put No. 13 Texas Tech ahead 35-24 with 1:03 to play and closed out Oregon State on Saturday night at Reser Stadium.
Texas Tech is 2-0. Oregon State dropped to 0-2 under first-year coach JaMarcus Shephard, outgained the Red Raiders 472-352, and led 24-21 with 13:23 remaining.
The fourth-quarter deficit was the second week in a row Texas Tech had to answer late, Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said.
“It was a tough-fought win. I love being on that side. 24-21, really had to respond. But second week in a row, we’re putting ourselves in this situation,” McGuire said. “We have a huge punt return that’s going to lead to points, and we line up offsides. We have a big play on the sideline to a tight end, and we get a 15-yard penalty. We’re in our four-minute offense, trying to run the clock out, we get a 15-yard penalty. There’s 100% hats off to Oregon State, but we’ve got to clean up some of our issues. We’ve got still way too many self-inflicted wounds.”
The Red Raiders were flagged 7 times for 70 yards.
Neither team scored in the first quarter, and Texas Tech ran 5 times for 8 yards and totaled 42 yards in the period. Castellanos broke it open with 7:35 left in the second, running in from 7 yards out to cap a 6-play, 49-yard drive. On the first snap after the kickoff, Braden Atkinson hit Jesse Legree for 75 yards and a tying touchdown. Ten seconds of game clock had come off.
Texas Tech answered with an 11-play, 73-yard drive that Cameron Dickey finished on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 3:01 left in the half. Oregon State outgained Texas Tech 205-163 in the first 30 minutes.
Oregon State running back AJ Newberry threw the first touchdown of the third quarter, a 4-yarder to Atkinson with 11:17 on the clock. The two-point run failed. J’Koby Williams went 38 yards on third-and-5 with 8:05 left for a 21-13 lead, and Atkinson found Legree again from 37 yards on fourth-and-7 and then ran in the two-point conversion to tie it at 21.
Will Hammond was sacked and fumbled at his own 22 with 26 seconds left in the third, and Tyler Bailey recovered for Oregon State. Caleb Ojeda made a 34-yard field goal four plays later for a 24-21 lead.
Hammond’s line in the huddle all season has been to find a way to win, Coy Eakin said. Eakin caught a 32-yard touchdown from Hammond with 6:31 left to put Texas Tech back in front, 28-24.
“It’s kind of just how you go throughout the week. You control what you can control, and so when the play comes to you, you got to make it,” Eakin said. “We didn’t even really prepare for that play, but it was kind of just a drop on the sideline. But I feel like we did all, as a wide receiver group especially, just made the plays that come our way. And I think everyone kind of contributed to that win rather than that just one touchdown.”
Oregon State turned the ball over on downs at the Texas Tech 37 with 4:06 left and again at its own 11 with 1:23 to go.
J’Koby Williams And The Texas Tech Run Game
Williams carried 20 times for 116 yards and a touchdown, the fourth 100-yard game of his career. Ten of those carries came in the fourth quarter, for 54 yards. His 38-yard score was the third-longest touchdown run of his career, behind a 41-yarder at Kansas State in 2025 and a 54-yarder against Arkansas in the 2024 Liberty Bowl.
Hammond finished 20-of-27 for 189 yards, 1 touchdown, and no interceptions, and was sacked 4 times. He was 14-of-18 for 109 yards at the break. Through two games he has completed 74% or better.
McGuire said Texas Tech had shots downfield Saturday it did not throw, into coverage that was tight without being covered.
“If you look at it, that’s one of the plays, kind of what we’re talking about. He wasn’t just wide open,” McGuire said of the throw to Eakin. “It was go throw the ball in a good spot where your guy could go make a play. And it was kind of reminiscent of the Big 12 Championship that Coy made that play. It’s one of those deals of, like, you got to give some of those guys a chance to go make a play.”
Texas Tech rushed 46 times for 155 yards, averaging 3.4 per carry, and converted 8 of 16 third downs.
Ben Roberts And The Texas Tech Defense
Atkinson threw for 413 yards and 2 touchdowns with 1 interception on 31-of-51 passing. Legree caught 8 passes for 240 yards and 2 scores. The 472 total yards were the most Texas Tech has allowed since giving up 559 to Arkansas in the 2024 Liberty Bowl.
Ben Roberts led Texas Tech with 10 tackles and added a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss. Austin Romaine had 9. Amier Boyd intercepted Atkinson at the Texas Tech 36 with 1:50 left in the second quarter, the fifth of his career.
The defense carries a large volume of calls and runs them every week, Roberts said.
“Obviously, I’m happy with the win. That’s the goal. And then performance-wise, I feel like we played at a very high effort the whole game,” Roberts said. “There was just a couple moments that eyes got bad, couple busted plays. But when we were firing on all cylinders, we’re a really good defense.”
Roberts spent the game telling teammates on the sideline that the offense had the defense’s back and to stay level.
“I don’t think a lot of people were expecting this to be a dogfight, but I’m proud of my guys for not giving up when it got hard,” Roberts said. “Seeing that, I’m happy that every game’s a dogfight and we just come out with a win. I don’t care what the scoreboard says. This team is tough, resilient, so we’re not going to quit.”
Stone Harrington went 5-for-5 on extra points and missed his only field goal, an attempt from a school-record 63 yards as the first half expired. Will Karoll punted 7 times for a 44.4-yard average, dropping 4 inside the 20.
Tight end Terrance Carter was ruled inactive before kickoff, and McGuire said Texas Tech should know more by Tuesday or Wednesday, when the program begins issuing an injury report. Trey White is also close.
“We got a really good chance to get Trey White back,” McGuire said. “If he continues to progress the way he’s progressed, then I’ve got a really good chance to get him back.”
Saturday drew 30,539 to Reser Stadium and was the third all-time meeting between the programs, following a 45-14 Texas Tech win in Lubbock last season and a 15-14 Texas Tech win in 1959. It was McGuire’s first non-conference road win at Texas Tech after losses at NC State in 2022, Wyoming in 2023, and Washington State in 2024, and the program’s first win at an opponent’s home stadium since beating Houston in 2017.
Texas Tech opens Big 12 play against Houston on Friday at 7 p.m. CT in Lubbock. The Cougars are 2-0 after beating Southern 77-6 on Saturday.
