MORGANTOWN – The pressure of bowl eligibility is off for West Virginia University’s football team. The Mountaineers took care of that last week in beating UCF in their home finale.
So WVU walks into today’s regular season finale – a noon clash against Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas (FS1) – with a little less stress, but still plenty to play for.
“We go into each and every week just wanting to win,” senior offensive tackle Wyatt Milum said. “That one-play mentality, that one-game mentality. Each game, we just want to go in and win that game.”
If WVU (6-5, 5-3 Big 12) can defeat the Red Raiders (7-4, 5-3 Big 12), it will mark the second straight year, and only the second time in coach Neal Brown’s West Virginia tenure, that the Mountaineers have hit at least seven wins, piggybacking off of last season’s 9-4 record. It will also mark the first time since WVU joined the Big 12 that it finished back-to-back campaigns at 6-3 in the conference.
Yet accomplishing all that will be no easy feat, considering what lies ahead for the Mountaineers in Lubbock. Texas Tech features one of college football’s most prolific offenses. The Red Raiders sit in the nation’s top 20 in scoring (37.4 points per game), total yards (450.3 per game) and passing yards (292.8 per game). They also feature the school’s all-time leading rusher, Tahj Brooks, who ranks sixth nationally at 131.7 yards per game.
Texas Tech also has run more plays this season than all but two other teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and that high-tempo style could create problems for a WVU defense that has struggled all season. The Mountaineers, lining up against an offense that can throw, has had its issues pressuring quarterbacks, averaging less than two sacks per game, and has intercepted just four passes all season. They’re 122nd in the FBS in passing yards allowed (260.7 per game) and sit among the worst in allowing third- and fourth-down conversions.
That last statistic could be troubling against a Texas Tech offense that converts nearly 48% of its third downs, 13th best in the country.
“I think part of it is just the sheer amount of attempts that they have, because they play so many plays,” defensive coordinator Jeff Koonz said. “They create more possessions per game. … So now it’s how many times can we reset in between a drive? How many times can we go out and play a new game on every single possession? They create that, therefore they’re going to have more third-down opportunities.”
But WVU will have the opportunity today they have rarely enjoyed this season – playing against a defense worse than theirs.
Texas Tech has the nation’s second-worst pass defense, allowing 309 yards per game. That should help a WVU passing game that normally doesn’t put up big numbers, averaging 194.6 yards per game. An effective passing game will be necessary for the Mountaineers if the game turns into a track meet. But one thing the Red Raiders have been able to do is intercept quarterbacks. They have recorded 12 interceptions this season and, while WVU quarterback Garrett Greene has led the offense with his athleticism, he has thrown nine interceptions.
Greene said that, with what WVU is facing today, the offense can’t squander scoring opportunities, which also means the offense needs to keep the ball in its hands.
“As an offense, we expect to score every time we touch the ball,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who we play, who’s playing against us. We want to score every time we touch the ball, so the mentality doesn’t change. If we score every time we touch the ball, chances are we’re going to have a pretty clean victory.”
A victory would give WVU a sizable boost heading into bowl season. The Mountaineers, for most of Brown’s tenure, have been stuck on the five-to-six-win plateau, and the team would love to move past it. Jones AT&T Stadium won’t be an easy site to get that done, with swirling winds and a historically loud crowd.
“It’s a tough place to play,” Brown said. “It’s a long trip, but our guys are excited about making it.”
— Story by Derek Redd
