–This was simply an embarrassing effort from start to finish. Again and unfortunately, our old friend ‘coming out not ready to go’ raised his ugly head and it was 14-0 before people could really even get into their seats. There is simply no excuse for this team to continue to come out and have these types of games especially in situations where they need to get wins. That falls on the coaching and was evident in the overall effort here at various times. In the second half there were some plays where guys just seemed to quit on tackle attempts. I came into this game thinking this was a bad matchup for West Virginia, but they really gave themselves no shot with the offensive game plan, defensive effort and digging themselves into a hole that they simply couldn’t get out of despite Texas Tech really not playing that well. Unfortunately this has just been too common of an occurrence not only this season, but over the last several. If you can’t have your team ready to go on the road with a chance to change the trajectory of the season I don’t know when you will. This was just a frustrating game all around and now head coach Neal Brown drops to 20-22 overall as a head coach. It’s one thing to lose, it’s another to not be competitive and have the backups in for most of the fourth quarter because you just got soundly beat by a 3-3 team. The score was 48-10 and it really didn’t even feel that close. This was an all-around bomb.
--This was a battle of two 3-3 teams yet one felt like it was moving in the right direction and the other seemed stuck in the mud. There is a lot of frustration with the program right now and results like this against a first year head coach isn't going to help things. West Virginia has gone to a bowl 18 of the last 20 years and outside some upsets that is going to be a climb, pun intended.
–The Mountaineers are now 6-14 on the road under Brown and two of those wins are against Kansas. The Mountaineers were 3-3 in the first year but have gone 3-11 since then. This team still has yet to string together a three game winning streak since 2019.
–Texas Tech just had all the answers and the West Virginia defense didn’t have any. It’s not the case but it seemed like somehow the Texas Tech tempo had the Mountaineers off balance. The defense wasn’t able to get off the field far too often and seemed over-matched as the Red Raiders mixed in the run and the pass for chunks of yards. The Mountaineers did settle in some in the second half, but the damage had been done. Some of those early touchdown drives were especially concerning in the sense that the effort was noticeably not there. It’s not a good thing when you drop players back into coverage and still aren’t covering. The Red Raiders just came out showing no respect for the West Virginia defense and went for it on fourth down over and over again with success. They converted on the first six attempts although the Mountaineers did finally get a stop on the seventh attempt when they blitzed. I’m not sure how many missed tackles there were in this game but it was a lot. Sometimes you just have to make a play and this defense didn’t do that. The final drive was an example of this even though it was backups, the Red Raiders just moved the ball down the field and punched it into the end zone for the punctuation mark.
–How did West Virginia fare with limiting the Red Raiders on plays? Not good, Bob. The Red Raiders had over 100 total plays, while the Mountaineers struggled to sustain drives. West Virginia had only one sack and five tackles for loss on all of those plays.
–West Virginia won third down holding Texas Tech to 9-21, but when you allow them to convert 6-7 on fourth down it really doesn’t matter. The defense had chances, they just couldn’t get off the field or make the Red Raiders pay for being aggressive. There were multiple chances to flip the momentum but they couldn’t do it.
–It’s hard to win when you turn the ball over four times and you don’t generate any. West Virginia allowed 17 points off those turnovers which sealed their fate if there was any doubt in the game left. West Virginia had only 10 points total, that isn’t going to cut it.
–This just wasn’t the best game for senior quarterback JT Daniels anyway you slice it. It seemed that he was late when throwing the football a lot and didn’t showcase his trademark decision making when delivering the ball. It goes without saying that his wide receivers didn’t help him when it came to fighting for the ball, but this was the first game where I thought Daniels really struggled for periods until there was distance between the two teams. Daniels had three interceptions and the ball just didn’t look great coming off today as he often opted to go short and when trying it deep didn’t place the ball well as he has.
–Neal Brown has coached 42 games and 24 of those the program hasn’t eclipsed 100-yards rushing as a team. Granted, it’s only been twice this year but both times that has happened I don’t think you need to guess hard on what the outcome was do you?
–It was good to see freshman CJ Donaldson back in the game and he ran hard at times although he did fumble the football. An amazing statistic is that Donaldson hadn’t lost a single yard on a carry all year until he was dropped for a loss of five on a carry with 12-minutes left in the second quarter. That’s going to make some of you shudder a bit when you think about the Pittsburgh decision to punt the ball.
–West Virginia simply needs some of their wide receivers to make some plays on the ball when it's in the air. Too often than not, Texas Tech was the aggressor and it resulted in them making interceptions or breaking up passes while the Mountaineers struggled to do that. It’s been a problem at times this year but there just has to be more toughness there.
–Yes, the officiating was miserable. I still don’t understand how they didn’t stop play to review that initial fumble before the fourth down and had conclusive evidence to overturn the catch before the half by Sam James. But that doesn’t excuse the overall play here. Texas Tech isn’t the best match up for West Virginia, but these types of results won’t cut it.
–One area that hasn’t been talked about enough this year is the consistency that freshman punter Oliver Straw has booted the ball with this season. That isn’t going to make anybody feel better, but he again averaged 42.5 yards per kick and put another inside the 20. He has really helped to solve that issue that has plagued this team.
–West Virginia is now 3-4 again under .500 with TCU coming to town. That team is very good offensively and is going to make things very tough for the Mountaineers at home. Generally, this team has played better at home but it’s going to require a great effort to pull that one off and another demoralizing loss could possibly spin things in a direction from bad to worse. But at some point, this team has to create their own breaks.
--This was a battle of two 3-3 teams yet one felt like it was moving in the right direction and the other seemed stuck in the mud. There is a lot of frustration with the program right now and results like this against a first year head coach isn't going to help things. West Virginia has gone to a bowl 18 of the last 20 years and outside some upsets that is going to be a climb, pun intended.
–The Mountaineers are now 6-14 on the road under Brown and two of those wins are against Kansas. The Mountaineers were 3-3 in the first year but have gone 3-11 since then. This team still has yet to string together a three game winning streak since 2019.
–Texas Tech just had all the answers and the West Virginia defense didn’t have any. It’s not the case but it seemed like somehow the Texas Tech tempo had the Mountaineers off balance. The defense wasn’t able to get off the field far too often and seemed over-matched as the Red Raiders mixed in the run and the pass for chunks of yards. The Mountaineers did settle in some in the second half, but the damage had been done. Some of those early touchdown drives were especially concerning in the sense that the effort was noticeably not there. It’s not a good thing when you drop players back into coverage and still aren’t covering. The Red Raiders just came out showing no respect for the West Virginia defense and went for it on fourth down over and over again with success. They converted on the first six attempts although the Mountaineers did finally get a stop on the seventh attempt when they blitzed. I’m not sure how many missed tackles there were in this game but it was a lot. Sometimes you just have to make a play and this defense didn’t do that. The final drive was an example of this even though it was backups, the Red Raiders just moved the ball down the field and punched it into the end zone for the punctuation mark.
–How did West Virginia fare with limiting the Red Raiders on plays? Not good, Bob. The Red Raiders had over 100 total plays, while the Mountaineers struggled to sustain drives. West Virginia had only one sack and five tackles for loss on all of those plays.
–West Virginia won third down holding Texas Tech to 9-21, but when you allow them to convert 6-7 on fourth down it really doesn’t matter. The defense had chances, they just couldn’t get off the field or make the Red Raiders pay for being aggressive. There were multiple chances to flip the momentum but they couldn’t do it.
–It’s hard to win when you turn the ball over four times and you don’t generate any. West Virginia allowed 17 points off those turnovers which sealed their fate if there was any doubt in the game left. West Virginia had only 10 points total, that isn’t going to cut it.
–This just wasn’t the best game for senior quarterback JT Daniels anyway you slice it. It seemed that he was late when throwing the football a lot and didn’t showcase his trademark decision making when delivering the ball. It goes without saying that his wide receivers didn’t help him when it came to fighting for the ball, but this was the first game where I thought Daniels really struggled for periods until there was distance between the two teams. Daniels had three interceptions and the ball just didn’t look great coming off today as he often opted to go short and when trying it deep didn’t place the ball well as he has.
–Neal Brown has coached 42 games and 24 of those the program hasn’t eclipsed 100-yards rushing as a team. Granted, it’s only been twice this year but both times that has happened I don’t think you need to guess hard on what the outcome was do you?
–It was good to see freshman CJ Donaldson back in the game and he ran hard at times although he did fumble the football. An amazing statistic is that Donaldson hadn’t lost a single yard on a carry all year until he was dropped for a loss of five on a carry with 12-minutes left in the second quarter. That’s going to make some of you shudder a bit when you think about the Pittsburgh decision to punt the ball.
–West Virginia simply needs some of their wide receivers to make some plays on the ball when it's in the air. Too often than not, Texas Tech was the aggressor and it resulted in them making interceptions or breaking up passes while the Mountaineers struggled to do that. It’s been a problem at times this year but there just has to be more toughness there.
–Yes, the officiating was miserable. I still don’t understand how they didn’t stop play to review that initial fumble before the fourth down and had conclusive evidence to overturn the catch before the half by Sam James. But that doesn’t excuse the overall play here. Texas Tech isn’t the best match up for West Virginia, but these types of results won’t cut it.
–One area that hasn’t been talked about enough this year is the consistency that freshman punter Oliver Straw has booted the ball with this season. That isn’t going to make anybody feel better, but he again averaged 42.5 yards per kick and put another inside the 20. He has really helped to solve that issue that has plagued this team.
–West Virginia is now 3-4 again under .500 with TCU coming to town. That team is very good offensively and is going to make things very tough for the Mountaineers at home. Generally, this team has played better at home but it’s going to require a great effort to pull that one off and another demoralizing loss could possibly spin things in a direction from bad to worse. But at some point, this team has to create their own breaks.
