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Neal Brown Attributes Texas Tech Loss to Poor Fourth Quarter

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown credited Texas Tech with the win stating, "They won the fourth quarter; they won the game."

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown didn’t mince words following the 34-27 loss to Texas Tech Saturday evening.

“Credit Texas Tech. They won the fourth quarter; they won the game. We lost the fourth quarter; we lost the game. Pretty much that simple,” he said.

WVU vs TTU Game Summary (FB2020)

With the game tied at 27 and on second and six just inside Texas Tech territory, a quick pass over to Sam James resulted in a fumble and a scoop and score for the Red Raiders.

“We were in a position midway through the fourth, had the ball in great field position, inside our own 50 and felt good about it. We missed a couple of blocks, fumbled the football right there, they return it, and we didn’t answer,” said Brown. “This game is not complicated, and that was the story.”

“That wasn’t the reason we lost the game, but that was the turning point,” he added. “We had two or three possessions where we had an opportunity to get it done, and we didn’t. Not pleased – we got to be better – we got to win these types of games.”

West Virginia Mountaineers receiver Sean Ryan (10) reacts after the game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Jones AT&T Stadium.

The defense gave up 235 total yards and 20 points in the first half but hunkered down and started the second half forcing a turnover on the first play and set the offense up at the Texas Tech 24-yard line. The offense capitalized three plays later with a touchdown to tie the game.

The Red Raiders responded on their next possession, going 67 yards on nine plays to retake the seven-point lead. The Mountaineers defense only allowed 113 yards and seven points in the second half.

“I thought, defensively, we didn’t play very well early - we recovered in the second half other than that one drive,” said Brown. “I thought we got tired. Their tempo bothered us, that should never be the case, but it was. I thought their quarterback (Henry Colombi) played well, credit to him, and they were able to ding us enough in the run game for 180 yards. It was going to be a tough game for us to win, giving up 180 yards of rushing, and so we didn’t play as well defensively. This group, I knew coming in was going to give us a little more trouble, and they did. So, credit to them.”

Brown later adding, “We missed tackles tonight – we missed more tackles, and I think fatigue got to us too, for whatever reason, I thought we looked like a tired football team late in the first half and then, at points, in the second half.”

West Virginia racked up 435 yards of total offense, but drives stalled early and often due to dropped passes and, at times, an occasional overthrow.

“Offensively, moved the ball up and down the field, and our fourth quarter wasn’t good enough,” said Brown. “We had position to win the game, and we didn’t go win the game, and that’s what it was. We got some pressure in the fourth quarter that we hadn’t been giving up going to have to look at the film and figure out why and that shouldn’t have been the case versus these guys. And then our drops hurt us again. I don’t know how many we had, but it was several.

“We didn’t run the ball good enough. We called 29 runs – I mean, 91 yards, that’s not good enough. Some of that is a couple of sacks we had, but that’s not good enough - we just flat weren’t good enough. We’ve got to able to run the football to win games, and you run it in the fourth quarter, and we didn’t run it. I think it was a combination. I don’t think we blocked cleanly upfront late in the game. The second thing we didn’t do, I didn’t think running back-wise, we made single cuts – a lot of chopping our feet and when you do that when you chop your feet, you allow them to come to you. Our running game, I’m not pleased with.”

Evan Staley kept the Mountaineers within a possession in the first half with two 40-plus yard field goals. The first was good from 41 yards out, and to end the half, he hit a career-high 45-yarder.

It was evident Brown was clearly frustrated after the game finalizing his opening statement following the loss with, “Disappointing – I’m not very happy, as you can probably tell.”

There were several plays left out on the field, in a game the Mountaineers should have won, but West Virginia will have to put this game behind them as nationally-ranked Kansas State rolls into Morgantown next week. 

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