--West Virginia won with their defense and barely throwing the football just like we all expected coming into the season. But seriously, this was a big one for Neal Brown and company not just to get to 3-1 on the season but to win three games in a row for the first time here at West Virginia and get the Texas Tech monkey off his back. This was an ugly, ugly football game and got way more interesting than it really needed to be late in the game but an ugly win is still a win. And wins have been hard to come by of late for this program, so this is one where the Mountaineers made just enough plays to come out on top against the Red Raiders. The Mountaineers are now 7-6 against Texas Tech and snap a nasty four game losing streak in the process.
–Hats off to the West Virginia defense, especially in the first half of this game. The Mountaineers held Texas Tech to just 56 total yards and the Red Raiders quarterbacks completed just 3-13 passes for 17 yards. The Mountaineers were able to knock Texas Tech quarterback Tyler Shough out of the game on an unfortunate injury and Behren Morton didn’t fare much better until after halftime. The Mountaineers were physical and disruptive and really put the clamps down against a Red Raiders offense that had been very explosive. The second half was more of a battle as the Red Raiders found some rhythm but the defense held on the fourth down play to win the game and allowed just 321 yards and 13 points. That was a test against a good offense and the Mountaineers passed it.
--Credit to the front seven. West Virginia has really gotten strong play out of that group for the most part through four games. The defensive line might be the surprise of this team so far.
--Texas Tech was 2-18 on third down and a big reason for that was being behind the sticks with an average of almost 8 yards to go. Now on the flip side, Texas Tech was 5-8 on fourth down but the Mountaineers did get the biggest stop of the night at the end. The Red Raiders had 17 more plays and lost.
--The ability for Texas Tech to run the ball in the second half almost flipped this game. They had 39 rushing yards in the first half, but 121 in the second. That has got to get cleaned up.
–On the flip side of that, West Virginia absolutely dominated this football game in the first half but led only 13-3 due to some turnovers and questionable decision making/play calling. There were some mishaps at times and I understand they were playing with backup quarterback but unless the defense is going to continue to play lights out football the Mountaineers are going to need to score more points and get more creative on that side of the ball. I credit Neal Brown for the drive to go up 20-10 because that was the best called in the entire second half as he opened some things up and allowed Nicco Marchiol to throw the football but the Mountaineers have scored just 37 points over the past two games and that just isn't going to be enough to win many Big 12 games. Simply put the offense has to be better even with a backup in there.
--West Virginia quarterback Nicco Marchiol won his first career start but it wasn't anywhere close to a perfect performance. Marchiol didn't get a lot of help from his pass catchers including one drop that directly turned into an interception, but he also missed some plays as well including what would have been a wide open touchdown toss to Hudson Clement. He finished the game 12-21 for 78 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. That was obviously good enough to win today but if he has to start in the future it likely won't be. Marchiol did make some really nice plays with his legs though including a 17-yard scramble on the touchdown drive which could be his moment so far.
--West Virginia has won back-to-back games throwing for fewer than 100 yards for the first time since beating Pittsburgh and South Florida in 2005.
--Sophomore CJ Donaldson was by far the best RB in this game for West Virginia but didn't touch the ball as much as I thought he would with just 15 carries for 48 yards. The Mountaineers found it tough to run against the Red Raiders for most of this game and it really stalled the offense at times. Still, the offensive line I thought played pretty well considering the circumstances.
--Jaheim White just seems to move at a different speed. The coaching staff has to find a way to get him the football more whether that's out of the backfield or being creative with him. He only carried it once, but it caught my attention.
--The play of the wide receivers again left a lot to be desired. The group as a whole had 6 catches for 41 yards. The best pass catcher this season has unquestionably been Kole Taylor, the tight end, which is ironic considering the jokes over the past few seasons. He went for 3 for 39 and a touchdown in this game and has been a consistent presence regardless of the quarterback.
--Again, West Virginia had just 3 penalties for 20 yards while Texas Tech had 9 for 96. It hasn't been pretty football but for the most part this team isn't beating themselves and that is a major change over the past few seasons. They're physical, tough and are turning games into rock fights that are hard to watch at times. If you would have told me that West Virginia would lose the turnover battle in this one, no way I would have called a win but that's exactly what happened.
--Tray Lathan and Lee Kpogba continue to be some of the biggest surprises on this team. Both are playing at a high level and give the Mountaineers real athleticism at linebacker. Beanie Bishop and Malachi Ruffin also both held up in coverage today and were definitely challenged.
--Marcis Floyd has been very good since his return. He had 3 tackles, a sack, three pass breakups and 3 quarterback hits in this game used as a nickel.
--Shoutout to Preston Fox in this game. He had 45 yards on punt returns and West Virginia only had 75 all of last year. and 59 in 2021 for the entire season He also drew a pass interference penalty in the end zone and really was a boost for this team.
--Next week is going to be a much more difficult challenge against a TCU team that can put up points and is starting to play its best football of the season on the road. This West Virginia team has navigated the first four games to about as good of a record that could be expected but the schedule isn't going to loosen next week. The Mountaineers must be better on offense if they want to try to pull off an upset on the road and 17-20 points simply isn't going to be good enough despite the way the defense is playing. West Virginia is mucking these games up with their defense and run game but this next one is certainly going to be a challenge.
westvirginia.rivals.com
westvirginia.rivals.com
westvirginia.rivals.com
