LUBBOCK, Texas — In the first six-and-a-half minutes of Saturday’s contest in Lubbock, Texas Tech scored 14 points on drives that covered a total of 24 plays and 155 yards. WVU went 3-and-out on their first possession and the game remained on the same trajectory the rest of the way. The same Mountaineer offense that racked up 500 yards of offense in their most recent game against Baylor, mustered just 282 against the Red Raiders in a 48-10 defeat.
“We’ve been really good on third down — one of the top third down teams in the country. But we stunk today,” said WVU head coach Neal Brown. “We gave the ball back to them way too often with the turnovers. I don’t know if I have a positive word to say about us offensively.”
“Most defenses are pretty good at third-and-long. They have the pressures and the blitzes dialed up for that,” said WVU redshirt sophomore center Zach Frazier. “That was a struggle too.”
West Virginia surrendered a season-high 594 yards of total offense a week after the Bears racked up 590 yards. Tech snapped the ball 103 times and possessed the ball for nearly 34 minutes.
“Defensively to be fair, you are going to look at the numbers. But it is tough to even evaluate them because they had to go and play after four turnovers,” Brown said.
True to their identity, Texas Tech was aggressive on fourth down. The Red Raiders converted on their first six opportunities, many with short receiver screen passes and plays called with quick tempo.
“Texas Tech was really good with tempo,” said WVU sophomore safety Aubrey Burks. “We knew that coming into the game. At times we were slow communicating on the back end. We miscommunicated on some plays back there.”
With the game out of hand in the fourth quarter, Brown substituted players liberally. Many freshmen saw their first significant action since the Towson game.
“We probably could have kept the score down some by not playing them,” Brown said. “But my whole deal is — they were eager, and they were trying to do what they were coaching them to do.”
After last-second losses to Pittsburgh and Kansas, West Virginia’s last two defeats have come by a total of 56 points.
“A loss is a loss,” Frazier said. “It definitely hurts more when you lose in that way. Anytime you lose, it hurts. I hate losing so much. At the end of the day if you lose by one of fifty, it is still a loss.”