If this was the first true test for No. 18/20 West Virginia on the road against Texas Tech they passed with flying colors dominating the Red Raiders 48-17 Saturday afternoon.

West Virginia moves to 5-0 on the season and 2-0 in Big 12 Conference play for the first time since the 2012 season and defeated the Red Raiders for the third straight year.

The Mountaineers rolled up a total of 650 offensive yards doing in on the air and on the ground averaging nearly 9 yards per play as West Virginia had near perfect balance with 329 rushing and 318 passing against Texas Tech.

Meanwhile, the West Virginia defense held a Texas Tech offense that ranked No. 2 nationally in scoring offense and total yards to season lows at 17 points and 379 yards. The Red Raiders came into the game averaging 55.2 points and 649.8 yards per game. The Mountaineers also broke a streak for the Red Raiders that had previously scored over 50 points in nine consecutive home games.

Senior quarterback Skyler Howard was in control of the offense completing 21-31 passes for 318 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 89 yards and two more scores.

Behind a dominant offensive line, Howard completed passes to seven different wide receivers. Senior Daikiel Shorts had three catches for 100 yards and junior Ka’Raun White caught seven passes for 67 yards, while sophomore Jovon Durante grabbed four passes for 83 yards in the game.

On the ground, redshirt senior Rushel Shell finished with 104 yards and two touchdowns while Kennedy McKoy had 99-yards. Junior running back Justin Crawford left the game with an injury but had 42 yards rushing and a receiving touchdown in the game.

For the second year in a row the West Virginia defense held the Red Raiders to their lowest season output offensively as junior quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed 28 of 44 passes for 305 yards with a touchdown and an interception before leaving the game in the fourth quarter.

West Virginia won the coin toss and elected to take the football to put its offense on the field first against the Red Raiders defense. However, the Mountaineers couldn’t covert and punted the football to the Texas Tech offense after only six plays where the Mountaineers threw the ball five times. But on the first Texas Tech possession, the West Virginia defense was able to record a three and out.

The second drive for West Virginia was much more successful as Crawford was inserted into the game and rolled up 31-yards on five carries giving the running game a spark. The drive was aided by a 53-yard pass play to Shorts on third down but Crawford would cap off the drive with a ten-yard rushing touchdown to put the Mountaineers ahead 7-0 with 9:30 remaining in the first quarter. The drive amassed 91-yards on nine plays after the Red Raiders punt team had flipped the field.

The West Virginia defense recorded its second three out in as many drives with redshirt senior Christian Brown recording a sack to put the Red Raiders behind the sticks on second down. After a punt the Mountaineers would take over at their own 42-yard line. West Virginia would move their second possession down to the Red Raiders 26-yard line but the drive stalled and Molina would miss a 43-yard field goal attempt wide right to keep the score at 7-0.

The Red Raiders would stare another third and long in the face, but Mahomes was able to buy time in the pocket and scramble around to throw a 37-yard pass to Ian Saddler down to the West Virginia 36-yard line for the first Texas Tech first down of the game. But after an offensive pass interference penalty the Red Raiders were faced with a third and 29 but Mahomes would find Jonathan Giles alone in the back of the end zone for game tying touchdown with 1:51 remaining in the first quarter.

West Virginia would quickly move into the red zone, but a holding penalty would negate a Crawford touchdown run and then a personal foul by Gibson would push the ball back toward the 30-yard line. The drive would stall from there and the Mountaineers would settle for a 34-yard field goal by Molina to take a 10-7 lead with 17 seconds left in the first quarter.

Molina would then promptly kick the ball out of bounds on the ensuing kickoff giving the Red Raiders good starting field position and Texas Tech would move the ball into the West Virginia red zone aided by a facemask penalty by Kyzir White. But inside the red zone, Stockton would bobble a pass and redshirt senior Sean Walters would corral the football for an interception stopping the drive.

The Mountaineers would take advantage of the miscue by traveling 89-yards in ten plays for a five-yard touchdown pass to Crawford to out the West Virginia advantage at 17-7 with 7:03 left in the first half. The Red Raiders would move the ball to midfield but would be forced to punt the ball back to the West Virginia offense after the defense would hold on another third down opportunity.

The West Virginia offense would continue to move the football this time taking the ball 72-yards in seven plays to put the score at 24-7 with 4:22 remaining in the first half on a five-yard run by Howard. On the drive, the Mountaineers used the zone read effectively with Howard keeping the ball and the Red Raiders not accounting for the quarterback allowing him to chew up chunks of yards. The offense finished the first half with a total of 392 yards.

The Red Raiders would move the football to the West Virginia 24-yard line but were stopped on third and one forcing the Texas Tech offense to line up to go for it. The Red Raiders would then line up but have a snap infraction that pushed the Red Raiders back to a 4th and 6 and Mahomes pass would fall incomplete to take the score to 24-7 into the locker room as the Mountaineers held the high-powered Texas Tech offense to 200 total yards in the first half.

Texas Tech opened the second half with the football and the Red Raiders moved the ball into the West Virginia red zone but a Rasul Douglas sack would kill the drive and force a 42-yard field goal attempt to cut the lead to 24-10 with a little more than ten minutes remaining in the third quarter.

West Virginia would add a 22-yard field goal of their own on the ensuing drive to take a 27-10 lead with 6:04 remaining in the third quarter. The drive spanned 11 plays and traveled 70 yards but took off four minutes from the third quarter clock. After a Texas Tech punt, the West Virginia offense would get the football back at their own 18-yard line. True freshman Kennedy McKoy would carry the ball twice for 56-yards to put the ball at the Texas Tech one-yard line as it turned to the fourth quarter.

And on the first play of the fourth quarter, Howard got into the end zone for a touchdown to put the Mountaineers out front 34-10 with 14:51 remaining in the game. The Mountaineers would sack Mahomes for the fourth time on the ensuing drive and a botched punt gave the football back to West Virginia at the Texas Tech 32-yard line with the clock ticking away.

The onslaught would continue on the next series as Shell would take the ball into the end zone from 14-yards out to put the Mountaineers ahead 41-10 with 10:24 left to play in the game. On the next drive, Texas Tech removed Mahomes from the game giving way to back up junior Nic Shimonek.

The Texas Tech offense would score with Shimonek in the game on an 18-yard touchdown pass to Giles but the Mountaineers lead stood at 41-17 with over eight minutes remaining. On that drive, cornerback Maurice Fleming received a targeting penalty and will not be available for the first half next week.

West Virginia would add another late touchdown on a run from Shell to put the game at 48-17 with only 2:16 left in the game.

Freshman Kennedy McKoy also was injured late in the game and left holding his shoulder along with the leg injury to Crawford.

West Virginia will play host to TCU next weekend at 3:30 inside Milan Puskar Stadium.