WVU still has plenty to play for in away game against Texas Tech

MORGANTOWN – The pressure of bowl eligibility is gone for the West Virginia University football team. The Mountaineers took care of that by beating UCF in the home finale last week.

So WVU enters today’s regular season finale (a noon game against Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas (FS1)) with a little less stress but still a lot to play for.

“We go into every week just wanting to win,” senior offensive lineman Wyatt Milum said. “This one-game mentality, this one-game mentality. “We want to go into every game and win that game.”

If WVU (6-5, 5-3 Big 12) can beat the Red Raiders (7-4, 5-3 Big 12), it will be the second straight year and only the second in coach Neal Brown’s tenure at West Virginia. It will happen times. The Mountaineers have at least seven wins, surpassing last season’s 9-4 record. This also means WVU will finish 6-3 in back-to-back campaigns in the conference for the first time since joining the Big 12.

But achieving all of this won’t be easy, considering what awaits the Mountaineers in Lubbock. Texas Tech has one of the most productive offenses in college football. The Red Raiders rank 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). Also featured is Tahj Brooks, the school’s all-time leading rusher, whose 131.7 yards per game ranks sixth nationally.

Texas Tech has also run more plays than all but two other teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision this season, and that up-tempo style could spell trouble for the WVU defense, which has struggled all season. Lining up against an offense that could shoot, the Mountaineers had issues putting pressure on quarterbacks, averaging less than two sacks per game and intercepting just four passes all season. They rank 122nd in the FBS in passing yards allowed (260.7 per game) and are among the worst at allowing third- and fourth-down conversions.

That last statistic could spell trouble against the Texas Tech offense, which has converted nearly 48% of its third downs, 13th-best in the nation.

“I think some of that comes from the sheer number of tries they get because they run so many plays,” defensive coordinator Jeff Koonz said. “They’re creating more possessions per play. … So how many times can we reset between a drive now? How many times can we go out and make a new play on each possession? They’re creating that, so they’re going to have more third-down opportunities.”

But WVU will have an opportunity today that they have rarely enjoyed this season; They will play against a defense worse than them.

Texas Tech has the nation’s second-worst pass defense, allowing 309 yards per game. This will help a WVU passing game that doesn’t normally post 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 could do was intercept quarterbacks. They have recorded 12 interceptions this season, and WVU quarterback Garrett Greene has recorded nine interceptions while leading the offense with his athleticism.

Greene said in the situation WVU faced today, the offense can’t waste scoring opportunities, which means the offense has to keep the ball.

“As an offense, we expect to score every time we touch the ball,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who we play, who plays against us. We want to score goals every time we touch the ball, so the mentality doesn’t change. If we score goals every time we touch the ball, we have a pretty clean chance of winning.”

This victory will give WVU a huge boost heading into bowl season. The Mountaineers have been stuck in a five-to-six win plateau for much of Brown’s tenure, and the team would love to break through that. Jones AT&T Stadium won’t be an easy place to make that happen due to swirling winds and a historically rowdy crowd.

“It’s a tough place to play,” Brown said. “It’s a long journey, but our guys are excited to get it done.”

— Derek Redd’s story