A handful of pivotal plays from Saturday, when Texas Tech blistered No. 5 West Virginia 49-14:
1. Tight end Jace Amaro runs free on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Seth Doege with only 1:56 elapsed.
In retrospect, perhaps West Virginia shouldn’t have to deferred on the opening kickoff, because Texas Tech used its opening drive to seize momentum. The six-play, 75-yard march included a 23-yard scramble by Doege before the senior QB hit Amaro for a 7-0 lead.
Texas Tech’s 6-foot-5 sophomore tight end, an explosive producer all afternoon, had 156 yards on five catches despite missing some plays after absorbing a big stick from Terence Garvin that led to postgame X-rays on his ribs.
“Jace is a big target and a big-time playmaker,” said Doege. “He already is a great player, but he’s going to be one of the top players in the nation some day.”
2. West Virginia’s failed fourth-and-4 on its opening drive.
A 7-0 deficit didn’t rattle Dana Holgorsen or the WVU offense, which appeared poised to answer Amaro’s quick score. But on fourth-down from the Texas Tech 31, Geno Smith rolled left and fired deep and incomplete for Tavon Austin who was covered new the goal line.
Smith appeared to have room to run for the first down instead of flinging it downfield. “I had room to run, and I should have used my legs a lot more,” Smith said afterward.
3. West Virginia’s failed fourth-and-3 at the Texas Tech 18, trailing 14-7 in the second quarter.
Though WVU was within field-goal distance, the game had such a shootout feel that Holgorsen couldn’t defer to place kicker Tyler Bitancurt. Smith dropped to throw and sensed pressure, backpedaling before missing Jordan Thompson near the pylon. It was another deflating moment for the West Virginia offense, which wound up 1-for-6 on fourth-down conversions a week after going 5-for-5 against Texas.
“We obviously didn’t finish drives very well,” said Holgorsen.
On Texas Tech’s next play, Doege hit Amaro for 61 yards to set up another TD that made it 21-7.
4. SaDale Foster goes 53 yards with an inside handoff 35 seconds before the half.
In a moment reminiscent of WVU’s pre-half defensive meltdown against Baylor, Texas Tech appeared to be trying to get into field-goal range as Doege handed off to Foster. The 5-foot-7 junior-college transfer made a few yards up the middle before bouncing outside where he went untouched down the sideline, where Pat Miller, K.J. Dillon and Doug Rigg pursued helplessly. The “drive” covered three plays and 67 yards in a mere 21 seconds and staked Texas Tech to a 35-7 halftime cushion.
“(Foster) keeps getting it done,” said Red Raiders coach Tommy Tuberville. “He’s not very big, but he’s got great vision.”
5. WVU’s first threat of the third quarter ends with Smith firing incomplete for Ivan McCartney on fourth-and-7 at Texas Tech’s 36.
Another fourth-down in Red Raiders territory, another opportunity missed. This one was especially disheartening for West Virginia, which had designs on sparking a second-half comeback. It was the third incomplete pass thrown at McCartney in the span of four plays, with Stedman Bailey nursing some type of foot injury. The waste of an 11-play series and the loss of WVU’s top TD target spelled doom for the rest of the afternoon.
McCartney did not have a reception in the game and wound up ceding snaps to Traveres Copeland, a true freshman who had not played in WVU’s first five games and appeared headed for a redshirt season. Instead, Copeland — who has drawn raves from his practice performance — seems destined to join the receiving rotation after making one catch for 5 yards.
“Stedman went down and we didn’t have a guy step up, so we put a true freshman in there,” Holgorsen said.
Allan Taylor’s postgame wrap-up from Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock:
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