WVU Loses 3rd Straight to Texas Tech

West Virginia moves to 2-3 on the season.

MORGANTOWN, WV - Texas Tech completely dominated West Virginia in the first half in all phases of the game. On their opening possession of the game, the Red Raiders move the ball fairly well but tried to get too cute with a wide receiver pass that got intercepted by WVU safety Sean Mahone. That was the only mistake they made in the first two quarters of play and West Virginia went three and out following the turnover.

Tech went right back to work as QB Henry Colombi carved up the WVU secondary going 4/5 for 38 yards which set up a one-yard touchdown rush by SaRodorick Thompson to opening up the scoring. 

Things immediately got worse for the Mountaineers as linebacker Colin Schooler blew right by left guard James Gmiter and forced Doege into a fumble which was recovered by Texas Tech at the WVU 34. Six plays later, SaRodorick Thompson found the end zone once again from one yard out, extending the lead to 14-0.

With the offense looking extremely sluggish, Neal Brown inserted Garrett Greene at quarterback. The drive started from their own 12-yard line but Greene provided a bit of a spark and moved the ball to the Tech 34 before they turned it over on downs. Greene ran for 32 yards and four carries on that drive.

Despite a fairly positive drive from Greene, Brown turned back to Doege for the next series. The Mountaineers picked up one first down but then had to punt after Doege got sacked on 2nd down, making it 3rd & 17. Doege completed a check-down pass to Leddie Brown well underneath the sticks that went for 12 yards, five yards short of the line to gain.

Texas Tech wanted more.

The Red Raiders had a shade under two minutes to work with and executed the drive to perfection. They converted a pair of 3rd downs, one of which was a 3rd & 13, and ran out the field goal unit to tack on three more points as time was running out. Jonathan Garibay booted through the 33-yard kick to give Texas Tech a 17-0 lead at the break.

West Virginia came out of the locker room with a little more juice than what was on display in the first half. The playcalling offensively was more aggressive attacking the Texas Tech secondary vertically. Doege made a beautiful throw deep in between the hashes to Sam James who had a defensive back draped all over him, picking up 40 on the play. A couple of five-yard completions moved the ball inside the five. Some confusion on personnel/play call forced WVU to take a timeout but on the next play, Leddie Brown ran it in for a four-yard score. This marked the first touchdown the Mountaineers have scored this season against a Power Five team. 

The Mountaineers followed that up by back-to-back defensive stops and 10 more points on the board from the offense to tie the game up. After WVU cut the lead to 17-10, Doege established a connection with Isaiah Esdale. He hit Esdale in stride for a big 55-yard gain, went back to him for a gain of eight, and then again for a 14-yard touchdown. 

Facing a 3rd & 5 to open up the 4th quarter, West Virginia played press coverage, Colombi recognized it, took a shot down the field, and connected for a gain of 46 to Loic Fouonji. The Red Raiders maneuvered their way inside the 10-yard line but the Mountaineers' defense buckled down and got off the field, holding Texas Tech to just three points. Garibay's 29-yard field goal handed Tech a 20-17 lead.

West Virginia pieced together a long 13-play drive that resulted in a Casey Legg field goal to knot the game back up at 20 apiece. On 3rd down, Doege had a wide-open Winston Wright who motioned into his route but he never looked to his right. Doege scanned the field came back left and found a wide-open Leddie Brown in the end zone but the ball was a bit off and was dropped. 

WVU's defense gave up a big 42-yard pass to Kaylon Geiger which allowed Texas Tech to milk the clock all the way down to under 20 seconds while taking a 23-20 lead. Neal Brown wasted two timeouts earlier in the half, leaving the Mountaineers in a tough spot. 

On the kickoff, Texas Tech squibbed the kick and Winston Wright fielded it but took a knee at the 9-yard line. Doege completed a pass to Isaiah Esdale for 29 yards to keep the hope alive. However, on the very next play, Doege took too long to make a decision and threw the ball out of bounds as the clock hit triple zeroes. Texas Tech held on to win, 23-20.

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