Texas Tech vs. Oregon: Early point spread released on Red Raiders, Ducks

One of the sneakier matchups of Week 2 — slightly overshadowed by a massive game in Tuscaloosa — takes place in Lubbock, Texas. There, the Dan Lanning-led Oregon squad will visit and face the burgeoning Texas Tech program under Joey McGuire.

And despite the trip into hostile territory, Vegas favors the Ducks. Oregon opened as 6.5-point favorites over Texas Tech according to FanDuel, as the Ducks are picked to get a big road win.

Oregon started the season white hot on offense, putting up a modern program record with 81 points in an 81-7 thrashing of FCS Portland State. Starting quarterback Bo Nix completed 23-of-27 attempts for 287 yards and a trio of touchdowns and barely played in the second half. Running back Bucky Irving finishing the game with 119 yards — on four carries.

The Ducks finished with 38 first downs, 729 yards of offense (split rather evenly with 381 in the air and 348 on the ground), no turnovers and just two penalties for 10 yards. It was a nearly spotless opening performance for a squad that flashed plenty of offensive acumen a year ago.

Texas Tech had a much tougher task in Week 1, with a road trip of its own to Laramie, Wyoming. There, the Red Raiders were in a fistfight with Wyoming, leading just 17-10 at the half. After scoring 17 unanswered to open the game, the Red Raiders gave up a touchdown and field goal in the second quarter to let the game get close.

Red Raiders starter Tyler Shough, a former Oregon quarterback himself, looked solid in the first half, completing 13-of-19 for 160 yards and two touchdowns, plus an interception.

The second half was significantly lower scoring, just 13 total points, as the Cowboys scored 10 points to take a 20-17 lead. With less than a minute remaining, Texas Tech tied the game to send it to overtime. There, Wyoming ultimately prevailed, 35-33.

A return home will certainly be welcome for Texas Tech, but they’ll have a massive task on hand in trying to slow the nuclear-powered Oregon offense when the two teams kick off at 7 p.m. EST on Saturday, Sept. 9.

It was a meaningful opener for Nix, wideout Tez Johnson

Nix and Tez Johnson are more than just former high school teammates reuniting on the field at Oregon. The two are adoptive brothers stemming back Johnson moving in with the Nix family in their home state of Alabama.

And while it’s been a long, circuitous path for the pair to be playing at Oregon, the duo debuted on Saturday at the collegiate level to much success. For Johnson, it was a dream Oregon debut with three receptions for 41 yards, including the first of the game.

“Really a dream come true. I always pictured it this way. It was just surreal just being able to play in this stadium,” Johnson said on the Pac-12 Network postgame show.

Johnson began his college career at Troy before transferring to Oregon this offseason. Nix joined the Ducks ahead of the 2022 season after starting his career at Auburn.

Nix hadn’t realized his first pass on Saturday was completed to Johnson.

“I didn’t realize that, but that’s pretty awesome,” Nix said. “And to be honest with you, it’s only a God thing. He put us here in this moment. First day he moved into our house, he’s wearing an Oregon sweatshirt and the next thing you know, we’re playing football together at Oregon after neither one of us went there out of college.”