Behren Morton threw for 442 yards and four touchdowns, J’Koby Williams had a scoring catch and a run and No. 21 Texas Tech beat Oregon State 45-14 on Saturday night in a weather-delayed game.
Play was stopped for 2 1/2 hours just 2 1/2 minutes into the game.
Cameron Dickey added a short TD run to help the Red Raiders improve to 3-0 for the first time in coach Joey McGuire’s four seasons.
“I do think we have a really good football team, but I don’t think we’ve come close to how good we can be,” McGuire said. “We’re just going to try to keep building every single week. Challenge these guys. They feel it, too.”
Oregon State’s Maalik Murphy threw touchdown passes in the waning minutes to Bryce Caufield and Karson Boschma. The Beavers are 0-3 for the first time since 2011.
“The disappointing thing was, I thought we didn’t play with much effort or willingness to be physical,” Beavers coach Trent Bray said. “That’s my fault. I’ve allowed it to happen. Got to get it fixed.”
Morton’s TD passes were 38 yards to Coy Eakin, 61 yards to Caleb Douglas, 30 yards to Williams and 23 yards to Terrance Carter.
Tech led 28-0 at halftime, 45-0 through three periods and outgained Oregon State 513 yards to 282.
Eakin’s score came on the third play after play resumed following the delay.
Upton Bellenfant kicked a 21-yard field goal.
Unfriendly sky
Two of Tech’s three home games have featured prolonged weather delays. “I don’t know if I’ve been through two rain delays in my entire 31 years of coaching,” McGuire said. After a 90-minute delay at halftime of the 67-7 opening win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the third and fourth periods were reduced to eight minutes each.
Snap judgments
Oregon State adjusted to the continued absence of veteran deep snapper Dylan Black after four poor snaps last week helped doom the Beavers in their 36-27 loss to Fresno State. Regular center Van Wells snapped to punter AJ Winsor, who lined up only 7-8 yards behind center and got kicks away quickly. His first two carried only 29 and 23 yards, but he finished averaging 39.6. Murphy took two quick kicks for 36 and 34 yards.
“We had to make some adjustments to get the punt off, and I thought they did a nice job executing what we asked them to do,” Bray said.
The takeaway
Oregon State: The Beavers have lost 18 straight on the road against ranked opponents since beating No. 19 UCLA in September 2012.
Texas Tech: Morton played three periods for the first time this season. He has 901 yards passing and 11 TD passes heading into Big 12 play.
Up next
Oregon State: At No. 4 Oregon next Saturday.
Texas Tech: At No. 20 Utah next Saturday.
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