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'We're much more explosive': Texas Tech football brandishes big-play passing game vs. Beavers
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- 'We're much more explosive': Texas Tech football brandishes big-play passing game vs. Beavers
Texas Tech football watchers spent most of the previous two seasons wondering what Behren Morton would look like with a healthy shoulder. Now that the shoulder's surgically repaired, Morton and the Red Raiders ' passing game are off to a fabulous start.
The senior quarterback threw for 464 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Red Raiders crushed Oregon State 45-14 in a weather-delayed game Saturday, Sept. 13, at Jones AT&T Stadium. Morton's TD passes were a 38-yarder to Coy Eakin , a 61-yarder to Caleb Douglas , a 30-yarder to J'Koby Williams, and a 23-yarder to Terrance Carter Jr. — all after a 2-hour, 23-minute stoppage for lightning early in the first quarter.
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Through three lopsided victories in non-conference games, the 20th-ranked Red Raiders have thrown 14 touchdown passes. Six have been for 30 yards or longer, and another three for at least 20 yards.
"We're much more explosive than what we have been," Tech coach Joey McGuire said.
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Williams finished with seven catches for 116 yards, Eakin with 6 catches for 139 yards, and Carter with 6 catches for 102.
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New offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich has seamlessly blended new pass catchers Reggie Virgil and Carter with holdovers Eakin and Douglas, among others.
Morton has thrown for 923 yards and 11 touchdowns.
"I think that's big props to coach Leftwich, the schemes that he has," Morton said, "but the biggest thing is our O-line. We've finally got chemistry going up front. They're picking up IDs out there, and you hear them talking, and I haven't heard that in a couple of years."
During McGuire's first three years, the Red Raiders tried to control the ball and stay ahead of the chains by making frequent use of a horizontal screen game.
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They're going deep more under Leftwich. Eakin's had a big-play TD in each of the first three games, including one for 41 yards against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and another for 42 yards against Kent State.
"If I have time, it's going to be bad for the defense," Morton said, "because we've got way too many playmakers for the ball to be screen right, screen left. We've got playmakers, so let's go take shots."
Texas Tech's Caleb Douglas looks back before scoring a touchdown against Oregon State during a non-conference football game, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, at Jones AT&T Stadium.
Douglas, coming off career highs in catches (60), yards (877), and touchdowns (6) last year, got back into the scoring column Saturday for the first time. Douglas caught a deep throw at the Oregon State 25-yard line over cornerback Jalil Tucker, who fell, and had an easy lope to the end zone.
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"I think he's in a really good rhythm," McGuire said of Morton, "and we've got a lot of weapons. We've got two running backs that catch the ball really well out of the backfield that were really featured tonight. We've got two tight ends that are hard matchups for safeties and linebackers, and Reggie, Coy, CD (Douglas), they can really run."
Tech opens Big 12 play next week at No. 21 Utah, known for its defense under coach Kyle Whittingham. McGuire said Morgan Scalley, the Utes' longtime defensive coordinator and safeties coach, is "one of the best defensive-back evaluators I've been around."
Throwing deep successfully figures to be harder against Utah. The key to keeping it up?
"To score from afar, you have to win your one-on-one," McGuire said. "If you're matched up and your number's called, and you're the first read, we want to win that first read. We got that a couple of times tonight with Coy and CD."
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Carter, the transfer tight end from Louisiana-Lafayette, gave Tech a 35-0 lead in the third quarter with his third touchdown catch of the season. Later in the quarter, he came out of the game with a left-shoulder problem. He didn't return, though he seemed to be in good spirits, mingling with teammates on the sideline.
McGuire said he thought Carter's injury was a stinger, not a dislocation or anything of the sort.
"It's more AC (joint)," McGuire said, "and they're very painful. We feel good about it. (In a closer game), We would've taken him in and done some stuff to the shoulder and padded it up.
"It's one of those injuries that you find out kind of how tough you are, because you can play with it; it's just, it doesn't feel good."
This story has been updated to add final statistics.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football keeps up big-play passing in win over Oregon State
