Fresh off bye, WVU set to travel to Texas Tech

The Mountaineers will look to start a gauntlet of eight straight weeks against Big 12 Conference opponents against a Texas Tech team that is one of the nation’s best offensively. Junior quarterback Patrick Mahomes II has already thrown for 2,274 yards and 20 touchdowns and is one of the most challenging match ups in the league with his ability to extend plays. He also has accounted for a total of seven rushing touchdowns on the season for the up-tempo Red Raiders attack.

“It’s not really a secret what they do but it’s unique because Mahomes is so good at keeping plays alive,” head coach Dana Holgorsen said.

This season, Mahomes is playing more within the framework of the offense which has resulted in him developing into not only one of the premier quarterbacks in the league but the nation.

“He’s made tons of improvement in that,” Holgorsen said.

There are obvious ties to the Texas Tech program with Holgorsen coaching there as well as working with current head coach Kliff Kingsbury in the past as a player and a coach. So during the bye week, the Mountaineers spent about 50-percent of their time on the Red Raiders and then the other half on developing some of the younger players in the program.

“We’re pretty familiar with Texas Tech,” Holgorsen said.

Texas Tech had a total of 91 plays against Kansas State last weekend and Holgorsen said that its usual to expect anywhere to 15-16 possessions in a meeting with the Red Raiders. In a perfect world, Holgorsen said he would like to have 80-85 plays and average a total of six yards per play.

“We try to average one more yard than our opponent,” he said.

West Virginia has made a more concentrated effort to be more aggressive in their play calls when it comes to making both throws down the field and deciding when to opt to go for it on fourth down. A large part of that is because the team must find a way to score more points.

“We’re still not scoring as much as we need to,” Holgorsen said.