West Virginia scores 29 straight to upend Texas Tech, 46-35
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — With a little more than nine minutes remaining in the third quarter, Texas Tech running back Tre King broke free for a 30-yard touchdown run. The score put the Red Raiders up by an seemingly insurmountable 18 points.
But constant penalties, a kicking game meltdown and four second half touchdown passes by West Virginia quarterback Will Grier resulted in a nightmare second half for Texas Tech.
The No. 24 Red Raiders allowed 29 straight points to the Mountaineers and fell 46-35 Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia.
“I thought we came out fast and executed at a high level early and just faded in the second half,” Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said. “We’ve got to figure out how to put distance between ourselves when we have the opportunity.”
The loss saw Tech’s losing streak against the Mountaineers (4-2, 2-1 in the Big 12) reach four games. West Virginia had beaten 37-34 three years ago — when they blew a 34-20 lead — and 48-17 last year, both in Lubbock, and 31-26 two years ago in Morgantown.
“I don’t even know what we were down. 14? We were down 18? Really? That’s pretty good,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. “I guess I should probably make a big deal about it. … When the momentum comes your way you just have to go with it and it does have a tendency to steamroll in that situation. Down 18 in the fourth and to come back from that? That’s some pretty good news.”
The Red Raiders (4-2, 1-2 in the Big 12) made the Mountaineers’ offense one dimensional by shutting down the Big 12’s leading rusher, Justin Crawford. West Virginia ran for 44 yards on 29 attempts and Crawford was held to 47 yards on 14 rushes. Eli Howard, Willie Sykes, Kolin Hill and Broderick Washington sacked Greir four times for minus-35 yards.
It didn’t matter. West Virginia outgained Texas Tech 166-16 in the fourth quarter. And the touchdowns piled up faster than Tech could respond.
Grier hit Ka’Raun White for touchdown passes of 32 and 17 yards to take a 39-35 lead with 9:14 remaining and then finished Tech off with an 11-yard touchdown pass to David Sills, who leads the NCAA with 12 touchdown receptions. Sills also scored on a 31-yard pass in the first quarter and started the rally with an 8-yard TD catch.
Grier finished 32 of 41 for 352 yards and threw for five touchdowns. White had eight catches for 114 yards and two scores.
Several of West Virginia’s drives were aided by penalties. The two teams had a short-lived pregame brawl 25 minutes before kickoff and once the game began the penalties piled up. Tech was penalized 16 times for 159 yards and West Virginia wasn’t much better (nine for 93).
“We can’t do that,” Kingsbury said. “We can’t give a good offense, a good quarterback with those receiverss those types of opportunities on pass interference calls. “I don’t know how many we had, five or six, 15-yard penalties. They definitely helped some drives.”
Besides penalties, nothing stalled Tech early. And nothing stopped Tech quarterback Nic Shimonek or T.J. Vasher, who opened the game with a 60-yard touchdown catch. Dylan Cantrell and Keke Coutee also added touchdown receptions in the first half, both from 6 yards out.
With time winding down in the first half, Shimonek made a rare bad-judgment throw into end zone and was intercepted. But roughing passer on West Virginia linebacker Xavier Preston bailed him and the Red Raiders out. Shimonek finished 24 of 39 for 324 yards and four touchdowns.
Tech failed to take advantage of the Mountaineer miscue, though, as its special teams struggled again Saturday. Facing a fourth and goal from the 1-yard line, Tech decided to take the easy points.
It didn’t work out. Tech took a delay of game penalty to get a better angle, but kicker Michael Barden still clanked the 24-yard attempt off the left upright with nine seconds left in the half. Barden also missed attempts from 43 and 36 yards. In the last four games the Red Raiders have missed six field goals, had two punts muffed, missed a PAT and have sailed three kickoffs out of bounds.
Tech’s one lone highlight from the kicking game came when punter Dominic Panazzolo rolled out like he always does. But instead of sending a rugby style punt down the field, he just kept running, picking up a crucial first down for the Red Raiders.
A play later, Tech made West Virginia pay for sleeping on its punter. Shimonek threw a 53-yard bomb to Vasher. The 28-17 lead just wasn’t enough to overcome its other problems Saturday.
“We didnt’ exectue and they did,” Kingsbury said. “They stopped us. As well as we mvoed the ball in the first half, we were poor in the second half. … They came out and came down hill and we didn’t execute.”