West Virginia was largely uncompetitive on Saturday as they were blown, dropping their regular season finale, 52-15 against Texas Tech at Jones AT&T Stadium.
West Virginia (6-6, 5-4 Big 12) knew it would face a high-powered Red Raiders offense on Saturday, but they were completely overmatched against Texas Tech (8-4, 6-3 Big 12).
The Red Raiders scored on their first seven possessions of the game, including six of them in the first half.
West Virginia started the game with the ball, and they moved it into Texas Tech territory. WVU then faced a 3rd and 3, and a jet sweep went backward for two yards. Then, on 4th and 5, Garrett Greene tried to find Hudson Clement, but the pass was behind him, and it was dropped, giving Texas Tech the ball in good field position.
Texas Tech moved the ball with ease, using its fast-paced offense to its advantage, before WVU was able to force three incompletions and a 32-yard field goal from the Red Raiders.
West Virginia answered back with a field goal of their own as they tied the game at 3-3, with Michael Hayes knocking one through for 52 yards.
From that point on, it would be all Texas Tech as they cruised through the rest of the first half. Texas Tech went field goal, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown to end the first half.
Three of those touchdowns were scored by Texas Tech running back Tahj Brooks. Brooks scored on a 2-yard rush, a 37-yard rush, and another 2-yard rush as Texas Tech led West Virginia 35-3 at halftime. In total, Texas Tech scored 35 points on 339 yards of total offense, while they averaged 8.3 yards per play in the first half.
Part of the reason Texas Tech had so many scoring opportunities was because of how the Mountaineers failed to take care of the football. The Mountaineers threw an interception and had a fumble in the final 2:40 of the first half, allowing Texas Tech to take advantage.
Texas Tech would start the second half receiving the kickoff, and they would do the same exact thing they did to end the first half — score a touchdown.
Caleb Douglas scored on a 31-yard touchdown as Texas Tech went in front 42-3 before West Virginia’s offense could even see the field to start the second half.
West Virginia turned it over on downs on their first drive in the second half before they scored two touchdowns on consecutive possessions. The first came on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Greene to Rodney Gallagher, and the second came on a 21-yard scoring rush from Jahiem White.
Tech added their final score of the day as Will Hammond scored on a 4-yard touchdown rush, pushing Texas Tech’s lead to 52-15.
Greene finished the game throwing for 265 yards, completing 74 percent of his passes, including a touchdown and two interceptions. White highlighted WVU's slow day on offense, rushing for 124 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.
Texas Tech QB Behren Morton finished the game completing 68 percent of his passes for 359 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. Brooks ended the game with 188 yards and three scores on the ground, as well as another 35 yards receiving.
This is the third time in program history that WVU has given up at least 52 points in a game, and it's the fourth time since Neal Brown became head coach.
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