Whoever's under center in late September, Tech has the pieces around him to make life easy. Running backs Cameron Dickey and J'Koby Williams are both back after combining for a huge chunk of last year's production, and the staff went out and got disruptive defensive help too, including San Diego State transfer Trey White, who racked up 19.5 sacks over the past two seasons. The offensive line is the one real question mark — as many as four starters could be gone — but even a shaky front five should be enough against this particular opponent.
Sam Houston is starting over. Head coach Phil Longo, a longtime offensive coordinator at Ole Miss, North Carolina and Wisconsin, inherited a program that lost its previous coach to Temple and got picked apart in the portal. The numbers from a year ago are brutal: a 22.5% third-down conversion rate, worst in the country, and a defense that gave up 483.5 yards per game, also dead last nationally. The Bearkats did add some Power Four size and speed on defense — Boston College's Jayden Fry, Houston's Zion Taylor, NC State's Justin Terrell and Maryland's Dimitry Nicolas among them — but rebuilding a unit that broken doesn't happen in one offseason.
The gap in roster talent and depth here is enormous, and it's the kind of spot where Tech's staff can manage Hammond's workload if he is in fact ready to go, leaning on the run game and the defense instead of forcing him into a heavy passing load early in his return from injury. For Sam Houston, this is a measuring-stick game against a Big 12 contender — the goal is competing for stretches, not stealing the result.
Kickoff is set for 11:00 PM ET on Friday, September 25, closing out the night slate as Tech opens its non-conference slate with a clear eye toward November.