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Rally time: Mountaineers blow back to win 37-34

 

LUBBOCK, Texas — Texas Tech was trying to turn around its season and West Virginia was aiming to erase memories of its last trip here. The Mountaineers dug out of two-touchdown hole in the fourth quarter to win 37-34 on Josh Lambert’s 55-yard kick as time elapsed.

A recap of the in-game updates:

— FINAL INDIVIDUAL NUMBERS: West Virginia had two 100-yard rushers in Wendell Smallwood (123 on 15 carries) and Rushel Shell (110 on 24 attempts) and two 100-yard receivers in Kevin White (13 for 123) and Jordan Thompson (six for 109). … Texas Tech’s DeAndre Washington was brilliant too, with a career-best 132 yards on 29 rushes. … Davis Webb threw for 348 yards and three touchdowns on 28-of-46 passing, while Clint Trickett completed 28-of-44 for 301 and two scores. … Kevin White

— FINAL TEAM STATS: Texas Tech outgained WVU 565-550, but West Virginia gained 210 in a frenzied fourth quarter. … WVU finished 12-of-22 on third downs and Texas Tech was 6-of-18. … The Red Raiders have been burned by penalties all season and committed 12 for 115 yards on Saturday.

— FINAL SCORE: West Virginia wins 37-34

Josh Lambert 55-yard field goal (0:00 fourth quarter) West Virginia wins 37-34
Wow. Just wow. Headed to field for interviews. … To recap a crazy finish: The Mountaineers went 42 yards in the final 52 seconds—even used two timeouts. Thompson made two 11-yard catches on the winning drive and Smallwood gained 20 yards on three carries.

— Texas Tech reached the WVU 46 but wouldn’t risk a fourth-and-3 try with 1 minute left. The punt sailed into the end zone.

Rushel Shell 1-yard touchdown run (2:02 fourth quarter) Game tied 34-34
West Virginia rolled 78 yards in seven plays, highlighted by a couple big pass plays. Mario Alford caught one for 21 and Daikiel Shorts nabbed a 23-yarder with a facemask tacked on. Once inside the 5, Tech’s awful run defense actually made things interesting, as Shell needed a second-effort surge on fourth-and-inches to score.

— Needing a couple first downs to seal it, Texas Tech goes three-and-out. This feels like overtime.

Kevin White 26-yard touchdown pass from Trickett (5:55 fourth quarter) Tech leads 34-27
Wendell Smallwood made three carries worth 48 yards to set the stage for WVU’s first downfield connection of the afternoon. White simply owned freshman Nigel Bethel on the scoring catch. That gives White 13 receptions for 123 yards today, his sixth consecutive 100-yard performance.

Justin Stockton 69-yard touchdown (7:32 fourth quarter) Tech leads 34-20
Third-and-10 for the most pass-happy offense in the Big 12? Well, scratch that tendency after Stockton went rambling up the middle.

— West Virginia had the ball for a second straight series with a chance to tie and couldn’t do so.

— Texas Tech endures a four-play drive that featured three penalties, including two for holding. That eighth official is getting flaggy.

— Hmmm. While I liked Holgorsen’s decision to kick in the third quarter, I think he needed to go for it there. It was fourth-and-2 at the 30 trailing by a touchdown with 13 minutes left. Even if Lambert converted from 47, which he didn’t, WVU still needed a touchdown.

— END OF THIRD QUARTER

— Daryl Worley hustles forward to catch a low, tumbling punt but never got a chance. He was planted by Tech’s gunner, who arrived before the ball did. A 15-yard markoff allows WVU to start at midfield.

Jordan Thompson 56-yard pass from Trickett (1:58 third quarter) Tech leads 27-20
The Red Raiders’ secondary looked dazed and confused, allowing Thompson to squirt free over the middle for his career-long catch. The play was similar to the one on which Trickett overshot Thompson in the first half.

Ryan Bustin 25-yard field goal (2:22 third quarter) Tech leads 27-13
Texas Tech started at the West Virginia 37 and Washington ripped off a 16-yarder. But the Mountaineers forced a field goal when Dillon and Worley made nice coverage plays in the end zone. That’s two straight trips inside the WVU 10 without a touchdown.

— Pete Robertson’s blind-side sack jarred loose the ball on third down. Trickett can’t reclaim it. Tough time and spot for a turnover.

Ryan Bustin 21-yard field goal (5:01 third quarter) Tech leads 24-13
Texas Tech answered with a 12-play, 71-yard drive. The highlight was a tremendous 16-yard catch by Dylan Cantrell, who landed on his head along the sideline after climbing over Worley.

Josh Lambert 38-yard field goal (8:03 third quarter) Tech leads 21-13
West Virginia owned the line of scrimmage on this drive, with seven productive runs—one of which was a big gainer by Shell minimized by perimeter holding call on White. Trickett deserved an interception when he overthrew Jordan Thompson over the middle, but safety Keenon Ward dropped it. WVU seemed primed to go for it on fourth-and-4 at the 21, before Tech called timeout. Holgorsen wisely sent on Lambert to make it a one-possession game.

— Texas Tech’s opening possession of the third quarter features a fourth-and-3 conversion (Webb to Marquez) followed by a fourth-and-inches failure (Washington stuffed by Kwiatkoski). Mountaineers regain possession at their 35.

— Halftime stats of note: Texas Tech leads 294-218 in yardage. … Davis Webb is 14-of-18 for 215 with three TDs and one interception. … Trickett is 14-of-22 for 110. … Shell has run it 12 times for 61 yards and Smallwood has seven carries for 40. … Tech’s Washington has 15 carries for 78 yards.

— END OF FIRST HALF

— With a chance to bury WVU before the half, Texas Tech turned it over at the 9 when Dillon picked off Webb’s floater.

— On fourth-and-3 at the Texas Tech 42, Trickett fires deep for Mario Alford. It was incomplete as cornerback Justis Nelson ran stride for stride.

— Crazy sequence: Tech called for late hit on Trickett, but Quinton Spain flagged for chirping at the Red Raiders bench. (Not only was Spain yelling from the hash mark, but he was standing right behind the ref.) Spain headed to the sideline and appeared to wave off an assistant before O-line coach Ron Crook got into the senior. Spain re-entered.

— WVU appeared to force a three-and-out, but KJ Dillon was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct as Quinton White was tackled just shy of the marker. In Dillon’s defense, White wasn’t “down”—he was lying atop two defenders. But Dillon’s forearm to the facemask looked flag-worthy.

— Trickett hit White on a 16-yard crossing route to convert a third-down play. It appears Tech has no answer for the big receiver. Later in the drive, however, Trickett sees a light box and hands to Shell on third-and-12. That’s not typically going to be converted, and it wasn’t here, though Shell got 9 and needed only to break Keenan Ward’s tackle for more.

Jakeem Grant 43-yard pass from Davis Webb (11:13 second quarter) Tech leads 21-10
Make that three straight touchdown drives for the Red Raiders, and make that a gazillion missed tackles by the Mountaineers’ defense. Working out of the slot, Grant easily evades KJ Dillon to make a short catch, which turns into long one when he jukes Karl Joseph out of his cleats. Webb improved to 9-of-11 for 194 yards with three touchdowns.

Rushel Shell 12-yard run (13:42 second quarter) Tech leads 14-10
Desperately needing to answer, WVU moved 75 yards in nine plays. White made four catches for 57 yards on the series, the last one a contested 10-yarder on third-and-9 that initially was ruled incomplete. Replay did its job and then Shell did his, scoring a rushing TD for the fifth straight game as the offensive line carved a massive hole.

— West Virginia dug itself an early hole, was outgained 181-95

END OF FIRST QUARTER

Devin Lauderdale 76-yard pass from Davis Webb (1:14 first quarter) Tech leads 14-3
Welcome back to 2012, or so it seems, as West Virginia’s secondary endures a coverage bust. Lauderdale streaked behind Worley and Karl Joseph to cap a two-play 70-yard drive. The score came one play after Webb’s 26-yard pass to Bradley Marquez was negated by an illegal downfield receiver. (Grant was covered up in the slot at the line.)

— Shorts drops a big gainer on third-and-7, forcing WVU into a second straight three-and-out.

Devin Lauderdale 34-yard pass from Davis Webb (3:05 first quarter) Tech leads 7-3
Touchdown passes don’t come much easier than this one for Webb, who volleyed the ball to Lauderdale on the jet sweep. Wes Tonkery was upended by a nice block, Nick Kwiatkoski was late coming over and Terrell Chestnut couldn’t shed a downfield block in time. We presumed both teams might be in gambling mode today and Tech went for a fourth-and-3 at the WVU 45. Webb found Jakeem Grant beating KJ Dillon inside for 9 yards to prolong the series.

— Despite two catches by Kevin White, West Virginia goes three-and-out on its second series.

— DeAndre Washington rips off a 16-yarder on Texas Tech’s opening drive and has three carries for 26 total. Davis Webb completes 2-of-4 for only 5 yards but had a pass dropped. The Red Raiders reached the WVU 43 before punting, and missed a chance to down it inside the 10 with coverage guys unable to locate the bouncing ball.

Josh Lambert 42-yard field goal (10:42 first quarter) West Virginia leads 3-0
A decent opening statement for West Virginia. Clint Trickett converted a third-and-4 pass to Daikiel Shorts for 9 yards and Rushel Shell ran for 2 on third-and-1. But when facing third-and-6 at the Texas Tech 26, WVU tried a Wendell Smallwood run off left tackle. It went nowhere as the Red Raiders had six in the box.

— Had an interesting conversation with defensive line coach Tom Bradley this week, and he was a little concerned about his guys “getting lined up” against Texas Tech’s quick-tempo offense. Remember, Bradley spent more than three decades in the Big Ten, where even nowadays there aren’t many fastball spread attacks.

“We’re lucky here,” he said, “because we see it everyday with our own offense. We see tempo here, we practice it.”

Bradley’s other thoughts on the Red Raiders, who have a former quarterback as a head coach:

“They run the ball enough to keep you off-guard. And they give you some formations that are oddballs—some unbalanced doubles, some extra heavy plays you have to be ready for. … Yet you don’t want to waste your whole practice time working on the trick plays. They just do that as a distraction. So our guys just have to understand that we’re going to see something we haven’t seen, so be patient and adjust to it.”

— Pregame personnel update: William Crest is out. Daryl Worley is in. Andrew Buie looks to be good to go also.





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