Texas Tech will hit the road for the first time of the season and head to an unfamiliar location against Oregon State. The Red Raiders will look to shake off the last bits of early-season fog with another big victory over the Beavers.
LUBBOCK - After a solid 33-10 debut victory over Abilene Christian inside the newly named Galaxy Stadium, Texas Tech will hit the road for the first time this Saturday against Oregon State.
Not only is it the first road trip of the season for the Red Raiders, it marks the first time that they have travelled up to Corvallis.
The Beavers are not quite as unfamiliar, as they paid a visit to Lubbock last season and were promptly dispatched 45-14.
Prior to that meeting, the last time that the foes faced off came all the way back in 1959, which also went in favor of Texas Tech in a 15-14 shootout.
The Red Raiders are not planning to end that perfect streak this year.
As the now-No. 13 team in all the land, that should not be a concern for Texas Tech and it appears that it holds the significant edge over the Beavers, at least on paper.
But there is still room to improve and impress in the away debut in the Pacific Northwest.
Despite the 23-point win over the Wildcats in week one, the Red Raiders looked sluggish and unfocused after rattling off two straight scoring drives early.
Now, these two quick strikes showcased that Texas Tech was the superior squad and there is no requirement for them to run up the score as much as possible, especially with injuries always looming.
However, the Red Raiders had issues ramping back up on offense and struggled to truly put ACU away until late in the affair, which raised concerns about how they would fare against foes of a higher caliber.
Oregon State may not be a top-15 team like Texas Tech, but it is undoubtedly stronger than ACU and are fresh off an upset bid of a ranked Big 12 school in its debut.
Then-No. 23 Houston welcomed the Beavers to open its slate and they gave the Cougars all they could handle before eventually falling 33-20.
Even in defeat, it appears that Oregon State has made improvements from last season's group and could make things more interesting than last year's blowout at the hands of Texas Tech.
Add in the fact that the year prior another ranked Houston team went into Reser Stadium and needed overtime to avoid a disastrous defeat to a winless Oregon State squad 27-24.
A better Beaver squad and an already tough atmosphere to play in, which is uncharted territory for Texas Tech, could spell some sort of trouble.
This sets up a perfect opportunity to the Red Raiders to show the nation what it actually has in store and force them to chock up last week's somewhat disappointing outing as a mere fluke.
The season is not defined by one game and Texas Tech will look to flip the script on early narratives, and dominating the Beavers in its first true road outing of the season will go a long way in doing so.
No. 13 Texas Tech and Oregon State kick off from Corvallis on Sept. 12 at 6:30 p.m. CT on CBS.
