MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — On West Virginia’s sixth series Saturday in the season finale against No. 7 Texas Tech, the crowd at Milan Puskar Stadium let out a collective an audible roar when quarterback Scotty Fox Jr. completed a 14-yard pass to wideout Jeff Weimer.
That play, which occurred as the 6-minute mark of the second quarter neared, marked the Mountaineers’ initial first down and provided those on hand with a rare moment of positivity Saturday.
At that point, the Red Raiders led by 28, and they’d hardly let up in a 49-0 victory to hand West Virginia its worst loss since 1904.
“I’ve done this a long time. I know when you’re in a challenge, but also thought we would respond better,” West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez said. “Didn’t play well in any phase and didn’t coach well. They have a really good team. Disappointing that we didn’t get a few more things going in the run game.”
Texas Tech (11-1, 8-1) was No. 5 in this week’s College Football Playoff Rankings and will face BYU next Saturday in the Big 12 title game. The winner is an automatic CFP qualifier, while the Red Raiders look to be safely in the field ahead of their second matchup this season with the Cougars.
The Red Raiders dominated the entirety of the first quarter, which they finished with a 21-0 lead and 178 total yards to 16 for WVU.
After converting a fourth-and-3 on its first series, Texas Tech turned to linebacker Jacob Rodriguez on the goal line, and he accounted for a 1-yard rushing touchdown — the second straight game the defensive standout has scored on the ground.
Tech’s second drive featured a 26-yard run from J’Koby Williams on third-and-15 and culminated with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Behren Morton to Cameron Dickey.
“We woke up this morning, and we knew we were in the Big 12 Championship, so I was a little nervous how we were going to come out,” Red Raiders’ head coach Joey McGuire said. “Were we going to be happy for that, and not play at the level we usually play at, to our standard, and they did that. They came out fast.”
Fox was stopped for a 1-yard loss on a fourth-and-1 rush from WVU’s 34 to end the third series for the home team. Texas Tech capitalized four plays later when Morton threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Caleb Douglas.
Although WVU forced the Red Raiders to punt on their fourth possession, Douglas added to his strong opening half on the team’s next series, which ended with him making a highlight-worthy 4-yard touchdown reception for a 28-0 advantage 6:49 before halftime.
The Mountaineers got inside the Texas Tech 35-yard line after picking up a first down for the first time, but a fourth-and-2 pass from Fox fell incomplete.
Receiver Cam Vaughn threw a 29-yard pass to tight end Grayson Barnes on WVU’s next series to put the Mountaineers in the red zone for the first and only time, but Fox was intercepted on the next play by Brice Pollock, allowing the visitors to maintain their 28-point halftime lead.
At the break, Texas Tech had converted 9-of-12 third downs and the Red Raiders went on to convert 14 of 21 for the game.
“We’ve been good on third down. That’s a big deal for us,” McGuire said. “Then you flip over on the other side, and we are really good up front. Our front seven is really talented and we always talk about it. You can stop the run, and you’ve earned the right to rush the passer.”
McGuire’s team received the opening second-half kickoff and generated a fifth touchdown on Williams’ 9-yard run to make it 35-0.
Edward Vesterinen’s recovery of a fumble from Red Raiders’ backup quarterback Mitch Griffis allowed the Mountaineers to start 1 yard beyond midfield with outside 8 minutes in the third. At that point, Max Brown spelled Fox at quarterback, but he was intercepted on an under thrown deep shot in Vaughn’s direction, and Amier Boyd returned the pick 67 yards to the WVU 18.
Three plays later, Lloyd Jones III threw his first of two touchdown passes to Micah Hudson, this one a 15-yard connection. That duo accounted for a 30-yard score through the air on the third play of the fourth quarter, a TD that was setup by a 25-yard run on a successful fake punt from Oliver Martin III.
“It worked for them, didn’t it? Yeah,” coach Rodriguez said. “It got them a first down. They got a first down.”
Khalil Wilkins spelled Brown at quarterback in the fourth, but the Mountaineers were unable to get anything and suffered their first home shutout since 2001, when Rodriguez was in the first season of his first tenure as WVU head coach.
“There’s some good stuff that’s in there that we can take and some stuff that we can’t ever do again,” coach Rodriguez said. “The first year is always the hardest, but it shouldn’t be this hard. The injury part, even if we’d have stayed healthy, we’d have still had struggles. Injuries didn’t help, but I get paid pretty good to build a great football program. I know what the hell I’m doing even though it may not look like it. I know what the hell I’m doing and I’ll get it right.”
Fox completed 13-of-23 passes for 98 yards and Armani Weaver paced a non-existent Mountaineer ground game with 29 of the 37 yards.
Weimer caught six passes for 77 yards in defeat.
WVU linebacker Ben Cutter, who intercepted a second quarter goal line pass thrown attempt from Rodriguez, was ejected in the second half.
Morton completed 25-of-32 passes for 310 yards. Dickey rushed for 79 yards and Williams added 60 to guide a ground game that generated 188 yards.
Tight end Terrance Carter Jr. had a game-high 10 receptions for 98 yards, while Douglas led all players with 127 receiving yards on five catches.
Texas Tech, which entered leading the nation in margin of victory, recorded its 11th victory by at least 22 points this season.
The Red Raiders totaled 572 yards to 180 for the Mountaineers.
“They played sound together. They had a good game plan for us and they relied on their defensive line, which is exceptional,” Weimer said. “They relied on their playmakers up front and then played sound in the secondary.”