What the struggles against Texas Tech mean to Brown and WVU
Since 2019, wins against fellow Big 12 foe Texas Tech have been hard to come by, so with the Red Raiders on the Mountaineers' schedule for this weekend's game in Morgantown on Sept. 23, West Virginia and its players have circled this matchup on the calendar.
Simply put, Texas Tech, despite being an average team in the overall standings, has dominated West Virginia under the Neal Brown era, which includes four straight losses to the Red Raiders against two different head coaches.
Now with Joey McGuire in his second-year at the helm for the Red Raiders, this WVU squad is honing in on beating their conference rival.
Last season was another instance of domination in favor of Texas Tech, where the Red Raiders blew out the Mountaineers at Jones AT&T Stadium, 48-10, while the matchup in 2021 saw West Virginia lose on a go-ahead field goal in Morgantown with under 20 seconds to go.
In the second matchup in Lubbock in 2020, West Virginia's comeback attempt in the final minutes fell short as it lost 34-27 and in Brown's inaugural season, the Mountaineers were defeated 38-17 at home.
However in 2023, this Texas Tech team looks to be the most favorable matchup for West Virginia since that 2019 game, as the Red Raiders have fallen in double overtime on the road against Wyoming, let a win slip away from them against No. 10 Oregon at home, and have only defeated Tarleton State 41-3 so far this season.
The fact that is interesting for West Virginia under Brown, is that it has completed a win against every other current Big 12 team at one point or another, besides this year's new schools, since 2019. However, the Red Raiders are still the lone team to be undefeated against WVU in the last four seasons.
Saturday's game could be a gauge of what this West Virginia team has in the tank for the rest of the year, after accomplishing wins over Duquesne and Pitt, while a loss to a top-five ranked Penn State team is its only blemish on the schedule.
Brown is aware of what this game means in terms of his tenure, and he recognizes the challenges that they've faced against the Red Raiders specifically.
"They've had our number. We can't hide from it, they've beat us four years in a row. They've won the last two times they've come here and we know that and our guys know that," Brown said. "This is the first opportunity for us to prove the so-called experts wrong and we get [Texas] Tech and we get them here at home."
"They have a very good football team and they've played a tough schedule also. They got after us last year and really controlled the line of scrimmage on us. They play really fast and we better be ready for it. We didn't handle that very well last year, so that's something that we've spent a lot of time working on," Brown said.
Another factor that could bear down on the Mountaineers this week is the high in emotion after an epic battle and a win over your biggest rival. This game against Texas Tech is unique because of the emotional toll after this rivalry win but also that there is more now on the table against the Red Raiders than just another notch in the Big 12 win column.
"It was a unique game in the fact that we played Pittsburgh last week; the Backyard Brawl is a huge deal for our fanbase and our state, but I wouldn't say they understand it the way the 20-year season ticket holder or someone who grew up in the state of West Virginia," Brown said.
"They're going to be able to put it to bed pretty quick, and I think it really is beneficial that we play Texas Tech next because they've had our number. If you watch that film, it wouldn't take you very long to get ready for this one because that was bad ball last year," Brown said.
Two players who have endured these struggles against Texas Tech also understand what it could mean to finally take down the Red Raiders, but for them it's imperative to improve and produce at their best, and also make sure they are prepared for and focused on this matchup. For offensive lineman Doug Nester who was a part of last season's loss, it's crucial to focus on the task at hand.
"This morning we still watched film from the game against Pitt. We’re still in that Pitt mentality until we get on that field today, so being able to move forward and being able to focus on Texas Tech now," Nester said. "Last year, for the offensive line, we didn’t play up to our standard. It’s a big challenge for us. We have to come out here and produce like we have been the first three games so they put a big challenge on us to go out there and produce. They got after us last year pretty well."
Although Nester's teammate on the other side of the ball, linebacker Trey Lathan, has flourished into his starting role this season, the freshman linebacker remembers last year's game from the sidelines and knows what the team needs to do to keep up with the Red Raiders.
"We just got to match their tempo. They beat us pretty good last year," Lathan said.
Texas Tech and West Virginia are set to battle on Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m.
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