WVU Falls to Texas Tech in Back and Forth Night in Lubbock

Trying to play the role of spoiler, the Mountaineers traveled to Texas Tech with hopes of vanquishing the demons of past recent seasons. And while WVU put a fight in a back and forth thriller, Texas Tech survived the scare.

Wasting no time and placing immediate pressure on the West Virginia offense, Tommy Castellanos connected on a pass that saw Terrance Carter Jr. run by the defense for 30 yards into the end zone. But as a sign of things to come, Mike Hawkins, Cam Cook and company answered the call.

West Virginia put together an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive of their own. Hawkins accounted for 32 yards through the air and 15 on the ground on WVU’s first possessions before Amare Latimer punched in the score on only his second touch of the game.

The Mountaineer defense then stopped the back and forth nature of the game, making Texas Tech punt. Freshman Matt Sieg even almost picked up his first-career interception off a deep ball attempt on a third down and eight.

However, momentum would shift from WVU back to Texas Tech in a hurry. A 27-yard catch by Prince Stachan followed by a 42-yard run by Cam Cook had WVU knocking on the door of another score. That was until a false start penalty by Kevin Brown proceeded consecutive failed attempts by Hawkins to keep the ball up the middle of the defensive line resulted in West Virginia having to settle for a 30-yard Jack Cassidy field goal.

Texas Tech would take that momentum and enhance it even more with one play on offense. J’Koby Williams sprinted 75 yards all the way to the end zone on his first touch of the game, getting the Red Raiders back in front, 14-10.

Not to be denied, Hawkins marched the Mountaineers down the field for another long drive, this time finding the end zone again. Hawkins added the touchdown exclamation with a short run on a third and goal. West Virginia already had 226 total yards with 116 from their rushing attack at the end of the first quarter.

The shootout continued to the second quarter, as a 29-yard run by Castellanos and another deep pass to the end zone, caught off a tip, put Texas Tech back on top 21-17.

Trading punch for punch, Hawkins found Taron Francis, who went 73 yards all the way to the house on the second play of the ensuring possession. WVU moved back ahead on the scoreboard 24-21.

However, Texas Tech responded, doing so with their first long drive of the day. Eight plays and 75 yards later and the Red Raiders held a 28-24 edge with still 9:28 to go in the half.

With one defense needing a stop to stop the bleeding, it was Texas Tech who halted West Virginia. The Mountaineers’ offense had to watch their defense give up a touchdown in 30 seconds.

Hawkins put his cape on and kept West Virginia alive with a 44-yard run and Cook muscled his way to maintain possession for seven on a third and five. A bizarre miscue on a snap ruined the threat and sent Cassidy out to convert a 29-yard field goal to allow WVU to inch closer and trail 35-27.

The Red Raiders contained to pour it on with their sixth touchdown before heading to the locker room.

Doing what they had to do, West Virginia score a touchdown thanks to a nine-play possession to kickoff the third quarter. Back-to-back sacks helped the Mountaineer defense accomplish their first three and out of the night. But down by one score and with a chance to tie the game, Hawkins failed to get WVU beyond midfield and handed the ball back to Texas Tech after an unsuccessful fourth down try.

Thanks to another stop from the defense, Hawkins unleashed what became a 75-yard bomb to Francis to set up the game-tying score with 3:50 on the clock.

Just minutes later, Hawkins’ third rushing touchdown swung the scoreboard in favor of West Virginia 48-41. Hawkins already racked up 295 yards passing and 101 rushing while Cook had 148 on 21 carries.

Following a field goal by the Red Raiders, WVU had a chance to put the game out of the reach. They didn’t and then Castellanos used his scrambling ability and cannon of an arm to reclaim the lead 51-48. The nine-play drive gave Castellanos 455 total yards and five touchdown passes.

Then, and thanks to some luck and a game-saving tackle causing a turnover on downs, Hawkins was offered one more shot with the whole field in front of him. Unfortunately for Hawkins, that shot only lasted one play, as he took a safety, thus ending the comeback effort.

West Virginia fell despite the wild night in Lubbock to drop to 5-4 and 2-4 in Big 12 play.

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