The Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles were not expected to beat the No. 4 Oregon Saturday at Autzen Stadium. In fact, many just saw the FCS school from the Ohio Valley Conference as a tune up for Oregon before they open conference play next weekend against Arizona.
The Golden Eagles ended up losing the game 63-14 in a game where the Ducks took care of business, and while sloppy at times, showed glimpses of why they are a national title contender.
After traveling over 2,000 miles from Cookeville, Tenn., to Eugene, the Golden Eagles jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a Da’Rick Rogers reception from starting quarterback Tre Lamb.
Saturday’s matchup against Oregon was not Rogers’ first. He spent the previous two seasons as a Tennessee Volunteer but was suspended indefinitely by head coach Derek Dooley after a slew of off-the-field issues and transferred to Tennessee Tech. In his first matchup against the Ducks, Rogers was not really an offensive target for the Volunteers but on Saturday he scored the lone first half touchdown for the Golden Eagles on a 23-yard pass from Lamb.
“Really it was just a screen play you know,” said Rogers. “Just get it, get the ball and find the endzone, and that’s pretty much what I did.”
After the Rogers touchdown reception, the Golden Eagles were outscored 63-7 and were unable to slow down De’Anthony Thomas and the Oregon offensive attack.
“Their offense is just so fast,” head coach Watson Brown said. “You talk to our players, and they’re so athletic up front…You talk about all their speed and all their skill, but I’m not sure their lines aren’t as good as anybody’s, on both sides of the ball.”
After starting quarterback Tre Lamb was taken out of the game at halftime, sophomore Darian Stone was inserted into the lineup and threw for the only other Golden Eagle touchdown of the afternoon and the first of his career.
“It was exciting,” Stone said, speaking about the play. “I gave it off to Doug, and he made a great play stepping between the two linebackers and he made a great catch, and the line blocked really good.”
While the result was not what coach Brown would have liked it to be, he believes there are positives to take away from the game.
“I don’t think our kids will let this bother their confidence,” said Brown. “They knew what they were going into, and I believe we’re a material enough bunch to go back and not let that be a factor here and take the positives back and get ready because we are the defending champions and there will be people looking for us in a week.”