Predicting the Final Score of No. 13 Oregon Ducks vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders

The Ducks enter their week 2 matchup against Texas Tech as 6-point betting favorites.

Max Torres | Sep 8, 2023

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Oregon Ducks

It's shaping up to be a fun week 2 of college football as Dan Lanning and the No. 13 Oregon Ducks hit the road for a highly-anticipated non-conference matchup against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Oregon is coming off a dominant 81-7 win over Portland State, while Texas Tech lost 35-33 in double overtime to the Wyoming Cowboys.

We've learned a lot about Texas Tech throughout the course of the week, and it's time to make a final score prediction of how I see this one shaking out for the Ducks in a hostile environment at Jones AT&T Stadium.

I know we can't take too much away from Oregon's week 1 contest against Portland State.

What I feel confident saying is that Oregon has all the makings of an elite offense with a veteran quarterback in Bo Nix, an elite stable of running backs, plenty of talent at wide receiver, and an offensive line that should overmatch the Texas Tech defensive line.

We didn't see any of Noah Whittington aside from one play last week, but I expect he'll be good to go and we'll get back to seeing a lethal 1-2 punch with him and Bucky Irving. I also wouldn't be surprised to see more of Jordan James after he shined in Whittington's absence and scored three touchdowns.

We know Troy Franklin will be a major focus for defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter, and if I'm Will Stein that's no problem for me--because it just opens up more opportunities to feed guys like tight end Terrance Ferguson as well as wide receivers Gary Bryant Jr. and Tez Johnson. Maybe we see more of Alabama transfer Traeshon Holden as well.

Texas Tech has an experienced defense but they had plenty of trouble with Wyoming last week, which makes me confident Oregon will be able to move the ball and put up points. What I'll have my eye on is if they can come out of the gates swinging on the road and be firing from the jump, rather than taking some time to settle in.

Now for the other side of the ball. We know most of the questions surrounding Oregon come on defense.

Portland State threw a lot of quick passes, which means we didn't get to see what the "new and improved" pass rush looks like.

With a veteran like Tyler Shough I think he'll let the plays develop longer, which will give the pass rush more time to get home. I think Oregon's secondary will be tested by Texas Tech's wide receivers and hopefully we can get a better feel for what the corners look like.

I think Tysheem Johnson has himself a nice day and we get to see more of Evan Williams after he missed the opener.

If Oregon's pass rush can get some good pressure on Shough I think the Tech offense could be slow out of the gate, especially because they didn't have the greatest game on the ground last week. We don't know if Jestin Jacobs will be available, so that could make the Ducks a bit vulnerable over the middle.

Overall I think these two teams keep it close for a while, but a veteran Nix helps the Oregon offense rattle off more than 30 points and the defense makes some big plays to keep the air raid offense at bay in Lubbock.

Final Score: Oregon 38 Texas Tech 27

Published Sep 8, 2023

MAX TORRES

Max Torres is the publisher and lead editor of Ducks Digest. He's covered the Oregon football and recruiting beats for four years. He's based out of Long Beach, CA and travels around Southern California and the country covering top high school football prospects.