West Virginia avoided complete disaster with a victory over UCF last week to at least clinch a bowl appearance in a season that has fallen short of preseason expectations.
A win on Saturday (noon on FS1) against Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas, would be another huge step toward quieting critics.
A victory could give WVU back-to-back six-win Big 12 seasons for the first time since joining the conference in 2012 and guarantee an above-.500 record, no matter the result in a bowl game. Another loss, however, would add fuel to the fire that seems to be heating up in Morgantown.
2023
It seems like it was forever ago, but what happened on the field in 2023 had a significant impact on 2024. Last season, the Red Raiders started 0-2 with losses to Wyoming and Oregon. Then after getting in the win column against Tarleton State, they dropped their Big 12 opener 20-13 at West Virginia to fall to 1-3.
Although Texas Tech lost its starting quarterback, Tyler Shough, in that loss to the Mountaineers, it turned things around, taking down Houston and Baylor to get back to .500. Back-to-back losses to Kansas State and BYU calmed some of the enthusiasm, but coach Joey McGuire’s Raiders won three of the last four regular-season games — including one on the road against No. 16 Kansas — to finish 6-6 and clinch a bowl appearance.
The destination was the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana, and Texas Tech finished the season with an exclamation point, winning 34-14 over Cal to conclude the year at 7-6 and set up some enthusiasm for 2024.
This season
The offseason did little to build on the positive trend, however, as the Red Raiders watched 23 players enter the transfer portal and wind up at destinations like Louisville, Indiana, Boston College, Houston, Vanderbilt, Wyoming, Mississippi State, UCF, Baylor and SMU.
They brought in 16 transfers of their own on the other end, but most would agree it wasn’t an even trade, and Texas Tech was picked right in the middle of the Big 12 pack at No. 9 in the preseason poll.
The season started better than most could have expected. The Red Raiders went 2-1 in nonconference play, taking down Abilene Christian and North Texas and falling at Washington State. They then opened Big 12 competition 3-0 with wins against Arizona State, Cincinnati and Arizona. At 5-1, Texas Tech was receiving votes and on the verge of breaking into the AP top 25 for the first time since 2018.
Back-to-back losses to Baylor and TCU quashed those goals, but Texas Tech rebounded in a big way, going to Ames, Iowa, and knocking off No. 11 Iowa State. The Red Raiders were unable to pull the same trick at Colorado the following week, but they did take care of business last Saturday at Oklahoma State to improve to 7-4 and 5-3 in league play.
Offense
Dating back to the days of the late Mike Leach and his Air Raid attack, Texas Tech has almost always been known as an offensive juggernaut, and nothing is different under third-year coordinator Zach Kittley — a former player and graduate assistant for the Red Raiders, who previously worked closely with Patrick Mahomes. Texas Tech leads the Big 12 in scoring offense at 37.4 points per game and trails only UCF in total offense with 450 yards per outing.
Though many Air Raid principles remain, the Red Raiders aren’t afraid to run the football, either. They would be silly not to, with senior Tahj Brooks (5-foot-10, 230 pounds) in the backfield. Brooks ranks second in the Big 12 in rushing at 1,317 yards, behind only RJ Harvey of UCF.
The Manor, Texas, native has reached the 100-yard mark on the ground in every game this season, and he ranks sixth in FBS with a 131.7-yard rushing average per game. He’s the only Big 12 player in history to record 4,000 rushing yards as well as 100 receptions in a career. Texas Tech’s all-time leading rusher has gone over 100 in each of the last two meetings against the Mountaineers.
OK, so sell out to stop Brooks, right? In the words of Lee Corso, “Not so fast, my friend.†While Texas Tech ranks ninth in the Big 12 with 157.5 yards per game on the ground, it’s third in the league through the air at 292.5 yards per contest.
Junior quarterback Bahren Morton (6-2, 215) is just 24 yards short of 3,000 yards passing this season with 25 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. He’s completing almost 63% of his passes, and Texas Tech is 13-4 in games that he starts and finishes.
It certainly helps that Morton has some reliable targets, including senior Josh Kelly (6-1, 195), a Washington State transfer, who ranks seventh in the Big 12 with 873 receiving yards and five touchdowns. Kelly has pulled in a team-best 80 passes and ranks eighth in FBS in that category.
Junior Caleb Douglas (6-4, 205) is a big target, who ranks 12th in the league with 712 receiving yards and five scores. Sophomore Coy Eakin (6-2, 210) isn’t far behind with 557 receiving yards and six touchdowns, giving Texas Tech three of the top 25 receivers in terms of yardage in the Big 12.
The offensive line was overhauled after last season. Right guard Davion Carter (6-0, 295), a senior, transferred in from Memphis for his final season, while left guard Sterling Porcher (6-4, 315) made the step up from Middle Tennessee State for his final college campaign. Senior right tackle Caleb Rogers (6-5, 310) is the leader of the group. He has started at both guard and tackle and made his 53rd career start last week against Oklahoma State.
The Texas Tech offense isn’t just efficient, leading the Big 12 with 24.1 first downs per game, it’s also explosive. The Red Raiders have 62 plays that have covered at least 20 yards this season.
Defense
With an offense like that, how is Texas Tech not at the top of the league standings?
While West Virginia fans bemoan the struggles of the Mountaineer defense, that group looks like the 1985 Bears compared to Texas Tech’s defense. The Red Raiders rank last in the Big 12 in scoring defense, giving up 36.3 points per game (a full touchdown more than WVU), and only Oklahoma State is giving up more than the 456.2 yards per contest Texas Tech is allowing (60 yards worse than the Mountaineers).
If there’s one thing Texas Tech has done semi-well, it’s stopping the run. Opponents are averaging a solid 147.2 yards per game on the ground against the Red Raiders, but that ranks in the middle of the pack in the league.
Where Texas Tech really struggles is through the air, where it’s allowing 309 yards passing per game — 40 more yards than any other Big 12 team and nearly 50 yards more than WVU. The passing game struggles have allowed opponents to convert critical third downs, and the 23.2 first downs per game the Red Raiders defense is allowing is ahead of only Oklahoma State.
With overall numbers so poor, defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter has stressed being opportunistic to his troops. They have responded with 18 takeaways that have led to 82 points for the high-powered offense. Texas Tech ranks fourth nationally with 12 interceptions, and six of those have come from the starting safeties.
Sophomore free safety Chapman Lewis (6-1, 180) has defended six passes in nine games and has recorded three interceptions. That interception total matches that of senior strong safety CJ Baskerville (6-2, 210).
Corners Maurion Horn (5-11, 180), a sophomore, and Bralyn Lux (5-11, 185), a senior, have struggled and at times have drawn flags when they’ve gotten beat. That’s one of several reasons Texas Tech is the most penalized team in the Big 12, with 68.4 penalty yards per contest.
The player to watch on the Red Raider defense is junior will linebacker Jacob Rodriguez (6-1, 230). After missing most of the 2023 season with a leg injury, Rodriguez has returned to lead the Big 12 with 112 tackles. He’s the only defender in the league averaging double-digit stops per game, with 10.2 per game. Eight and a half of those tackles have come behind the line of scrimmage, including four sacks. Rodriguez has had a hand in six of Texas Tech’s 18 takeaways, including three forced fumbles.
Another standout is sophomore mike linebacker Ben Roberts (6-3, 230), a freshman All-American last season. Roberts ranks 15th in the Big 12 with 74 tackles. Sophomore Harvey Dyson III (6-3, 250) and junior Charles Esters (6-3, 260) start on the outside in Texas Tech’s four-linebacker look.
The three-man front includes senior nose tackle Quincy Ledet (6-2, 315) and defensive tackles De’Braylon Carroll (6-0, 300) and Jayden Cofield (6-2, 310). A senior, Carroll provides the experience, while Cofield, a redshirt freshman, has shown some promise. Junior A.J. McCarty (6-0, 190) starts at the Red Raiders’ star (hybrid) position.
Special teams
Texas Tech’s most significant weapon on special teams is the leg of senior kicker Gino Garcia (6-2, 215), who has connected on 15 of 16 field goal attempts this season and 26 of his last 29, dating back to 2023. The punter, junior Jack Burges (6-3, 215), is an Australian who transferred from Weber State, who has averaged 42 yards per boot and pinned 17 punts inside opponents’ 20-yard line.
Junior Drae McCray (5-9, 185) is a dangerous speedster at kick returner. He’s one of only seven returners in FBS with three or more returns of at least 40 yards. Texas Tech is still looking for the right guy for punt returns, where it’s averaging a league-worst 4.7 yards per return.
History
The Mountaineers and Red Raiders have met on the gridiron 13 times, all but one of those since WVU joined the Big 12 in 2012. That first meeting came when the teams met at College of Mines Stadium in El Paso, Texas, on Jan. 1, 1938, in the Sun Bowl. WVU scored first in that one, when David Isaac picked up his own fumble and dashed into the end zone. Emmett Moan added the extra point, and the Mountaineers went up 7-0.
Texas Tech answered with a Charlie Calhoun touchdown run, but the extra point was blocked, leaving WVU ahead 7-6. Later in the game, WVU had a 92-yard Harry Clark touchdown run called back for holding, and neither team was able to find the end zone again. The blocked extra point proved to be the difference, as the Mountaineers celebrated a one-point triumph.
The next meeting, 74 years later, was just as memorable, though most WVU fans would like to forget that windy afternoon in the Lone Star State.
The Mountaineers were 5-0 in their first season in the Big 12 and ranked No. 5 in the country, coming off a 58-45 win at No. 11 Texas, when they made their first trip to Lubbock.
Nothing went right for Geno Smith and company from the start. The Red Raiders, with some guy named Neal Brown calling the plays, threw for 508 yards and racked up 676 yards of total offense on their way to a 49-14 victory that began an unlikely five-game losing streak for Dana Holgorsen’s Mountaineers.
WVU lost again at home in 2013, 37-27, but it won the next five games in the series, including taking down a ranked group of Red Raiders in back-to-back seasons in 2017 and 2018. Then came Texas Tech’s time for a run, as it captured four straight from 2019-22. The Mountaineers stopped that streak last season in Morgantown.
Overall, WVU holds a slim 7-6 advantage in the series. Both teams are 3-3 on their home field, with the Sun Bowl proving the differentiator.
The Mountaineers’ last win at Jones AT&T Stadium came in 2018. Brown is 0-2 with the Mountaineers in that venue, where he served as offensive coordinator from 2010-12.
