Tech rolls to victory over WVU
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MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia came into Texas Tech flying high off of a dramatic 43-40 over Baylor, having won 3 of 4 games and thinking they were getting things figured out this year after a difficult start.
Instead, the West Texas sky caved in on them in Lubbock as Texas Tech did whatever it wanted offensively and defensively in beating the Mountaineers for the fourth straight year, this time by a convincing 48-10 score.
It was so bad that when Jed Drenning, WVU's sideline reporter, grabbed coach Neal Brown on his way off the field, he tried to ease his way into a question.
Brown didn't let him.
"We stunk," Brown said before he could get the entire question out.
The pain was obvious in his voice.
"We played poorly on offense. Defensively, it wasn't even fair to judge them. We had to play so many plays. When you turn the ball over four times … I don't know what the time of possession was but it was ridiculous."
He had only more thing to add.
"Bad football," he said.
No one dared argue with him.
The reason was that he was telling the truth.
"We've been on a roller coaster and we played as bad as we possibly could today," Brown said. "We didn't play well at any position. We never gave ourself a chance. We did not play well up front. The receivers were a non-factor."
The defense played a bit better than that, he admitted, noting that they didn't have a chance because Texas Tech ran 103 plays at them.
"They were more physical than us and moved the pile all night," Brown continued, being critical of the tackling fundamentals.
"We didn't do anything to change the game," he concluded.
"We never got going," WVU center Zach Frazier said. "We never put a drive … we had one drive but other than that we just couldn't finish. It was liltle things, little mistakes."
The first half was bracketed by a pair of passes that told how it would be for West Virginia as it limped into the locker room down 17-3.
The first pass came on Texas Tech's first possession, a pass that Aubrey Burks had measured to intercept. Somehow, in a first half that was his best of the season as he registered eight tackles and a sack, he went up and somehow let the pass slip between his two hands.
It was incomplete, but not intercepted, and Tech's offense was off to a rip-roaring start, taking advantage of that score within 2 minutes and 37 seconds.
They set the tone on the drive by going for it on fourth down once and making it, their first of six consecutive fourth downs they would convert before missing one in the half.
In the end, Tajh Brooks took care of the final 19 yards on the ground and it was 7-0.
A three and out got Texas Tech a second quick possession and they turned it into a second quick score, converting three more fourth down attempts before Brooks had his second touchdown, pulling into the left corner of the end zone from a yard out.
Meanwhile, WVU kept missing opportunities such as Burks' near interception.
First there was what seemed to be a first stop that, instead, without a measurement or replay, was ruled a first down.
And then there also was a fumble by Texas Tech that the Red Raiders recovered.
WVU did manage a Casey Legg field goal that was matched by Texas Tech, and there was a dreadful end to the half when it seemed the Mountaineers were driving themselves into contention.
With less than a half minute to go in the half, Sam James made a spectacular leaping, one-handed catch while falling backward at the Texas Tech 28. A flag was thrown, so there was a call for a replay.
This ruling, too, went Texas Tech's way. They got the 15-yard pass interference call on the catch overruled, saying the ball hit the turf.
WVU wanted seven points as the clock turned inside 20 seconds. Quarterback JT Daniels tried to hit Reese Smith in the end zone but defensive back Taylor Demerson made an interception that was the equal of James' catch and WVU went to the locker room to regroup.
The Mountaineers were outgained 267 to 142 in the half and had just 367 rushing yards, which went completely against what they were trying to accomplish.
WVU received the second half kickoff, put itself into a third-and-18 situation with a holding call, then tried to get deep with Bryce Ford-Wheaton. The pass was on target, but wrestled from his hands by Malik Dunlap for an interception.
The significance of that hardly settled in when, on the Red Raiders' second play of the half, quarterback Behran Morton completed a tough pass to Xavier White, who delivered it into the end zone 55 yards away, and with the snap of a finger it was 24-3.
A freshman starting his second game, Morton completed 28 of 45 passes for 325 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.
From there, the second half turned into a disaster. Texas Tech outgained WVU 594 yards to 282, outrushing them 239 to 73 and throwing for 355 yards.
The offense turned the ball over four times for WVU, with Daniels throwing three interceptions for the first time in his career.
WVU is now 3-4 and faces TCU, perhaps the best team in the league, at noon on Saturday at home.