Texas Tech Notebook
October 12, 2014 10:22 AM | General
 |
| Quarterback Clint Trickett and kicker walk off the field following Saturday's 37-34 victory at Texas Tech. |
| All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
Yes, Texas Tech is struggling right now and, no, Saturday’s win in Lubbock won’t be listed among the all-time great victories in school history, but don’t discount the importance of Saturday’s win though.
No. 1, it came at Texas Tech, which, no matter how well or how poorly the Red Raiders are playing, it’s still a good victory because the people there care deeply about football. All you have to do is look around Jones AT&T Stadium, the banner showing the 36 bowl-game appearances the Red Raiders have made, the surrounding facilities and the fan support to realize that.
No. 2, the Mountaineers finally closed out a game. A month ago West Virginia pulled out a close one at Maryland, but the entire second half the Mountaineers were leaking oil and holding on by their fingernails.
On Saturday, West Virginia withstood an early barrage from Texas Tech, kept its poise and turned it on in the fourth quarter to overcome a 14-point deficit in the final 7:32 to win a Big 12 road game. That’s gold right there.
And No. 3, West Virginia needed this victory because it is about to walk down a knife’s edge between two pools of fire.
Four of WVU’s remaining six games are against Top 15 teams, including Saturday foe Baylor, which should likely move up to No. 4 or possibly even No. 3 after yesterday’s unbelievable 61-58 comeback win over TCU.
Mountaineer fans will never forget the offensive show these two teams put on at Milan Puskar Stadium two years ago and something similar is likely to happen this Saturday.
Following Baylor, there is a trip out to always-tough Oklahoma State, a home game against vastly improved TCU, another difficult road trip down to Austin, a home meeting against 17th-ranked Kansas State and then back out on the road to unwelcoming Ames, Iowa to conclude the regular season.
Indeed, Saturday’s win over Texas Tech was pretty significant.
Texas Tech Notebook …
- Josh Lambert’s 55-yard field goal to beat Texas Tech was his third game-winner in the last two years. Last season, Lambert hit one in overtime to knock off TCU and earlier this year his kick at the end of the game gave West Virginia a 40-37 win at Maryland.
“Any time you win it’s a great feeling,” said Lambert. “The best part for me is walking into the locker room and seeing everyone’s reaction.”
Because Lambert has such a long and accurate foot, and also because he performs so well in clutch situations, that really opens up what Dana Holgorsen can do at the end of the game.
Consider what Holgorsen did when West Virginia began its game-winning drive at its own 20 with 52 seconds left on the clock and two timeouts remaining.
The first two plays Holgorsen called were runs to Wendell Smallwood against a defense that was clearly protecting the deep half of the field. Those two runs only netted 12 yards, but it was enough to move the sticks, get West Virginia out of a big hole and open up the middle of the field for inside receiver Jordan Thompson.
Holgorsen could do this because his teams are accustomed to playing fast and also because he knows he doesn’t have to go as far to get into Lambert’s range.
A difference of 20 yards at the end of a game is a big deal, as we saw once again on Saturday.
- West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson’s decision to load the box and play more man coverage on the outside really paid big dividends in the second half. By halftime the Red Raiders had 294 yards of offense, were running the ball effectively on first down and had open passing lanes down the middle of the field.
Then in the second half, several times Texas Tech tried to take advantage of West Virginia’s man coverage in the secondary and couldn’t.
“You should invite that type of coverage, but they came down the last couple of drives, got in our face and we didn’t have an answer,” said Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury.
“We just challenged our guys to play more man coverage, and we challenged our corners,” added Holgorsen. “It’s obviously nice to have (Daryl) Worley back. Their inside receivers are a problem so KJ Dillon and Karl Joseph were put in man coverage a lot, and they played better in man coverage in the second half than they did in the first half.”
- Texas Tech had a chance to really blow the game open, especially on its last drive of the first half when West Virginia failed to convert on fourth and three at the Tech 42.
The Red Raiders, leading 21-10 at the time, got to the WVU 39 and were looking for more when Dillon picked off a Davis Webb pass at the Mountaineer 9. Had Webb looked to his left he had a wide-open receiver running down the middle of the field that he didn’t see.
An 18-point halftime margin obviously would have been much more difficult for West Virginia to overcome.
“I thought once again in the first half we had a chance to really separate ourselves,” said Kingsbury. “We missed some throws that were there and plays that were there and turned it over going in to really have a big lead.”
- Quarterback Clint Trickett was once again solid, completing 28-of-44 passes for 301 yards and two touchdowns, but his passing numbers on Saturday were not as gaudy as they were earlier in the year against Alabama (365 yards) Maryland (511) and Oklahoma (376).
What has made a difference is an emerging ground game that is making defenses play honest, and keeping Holgorsen’s playbook wide open. Last week, the Mountaineers ran for a season-high 255 yards against Kansas and yesterday the run game churned out 249 yards against the Red Raiders.
Wendell Smallwood ran for a career-high 123 yards and Rushel Shell added 110 yards and two touchdowns – West Virginia’s first multiple 100-yard ground gainers since 2008 when Pat White and Noel Devine did it against Louisville.
The run game really gave WVU a big lift late in the fourth quarter when the Mountaineers were trailing by 14. Three big Smallwood runs netted 48 yards to get West Virginia into position to reduce Texas Tech’s lead to seven when Trickett hit Kevin White down the far sideline for a 26-yard touchdown.
Then, on WVU’s final drive, Smallwood was able to get 20 of the 42 yards needed for Lambert to knock in the game-winner. Seventy-five of West Virginia’s 249 yards on the ground came late in the game in what appeared to be obvious passing situations.
That is quite a luxury for a play caller to have at that point in the game.
Meanwhile, Kevin White continues to put up All-America-type numbers this season on the outside. On Saturday, despite being bracketed by a Texas Tech secondary clearly aiming to stop him, White still managed to catch 13 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown.
White now shows 61 catches for 888 yards and five touchdowns and is averaging an impressive 148 yards per game through the air.
It was also encouraging to see Jordan Thompson step up in the slot to give West Virginia a third threat at receiver. His 56-yard touchdown catch late in the third quarter was a big boost to an offense struggling to get into the end zone at the time.
“When you got guys like Kevin and Mario that are so dominating, it opened up a lot of stuff for Jordan in the middle,” said Holgorsen. “Jordan went in there and had a huge game. He made some big catches down the stretch.”
Thompson finished the afternoon with six catches for 109 yards – the first time in two years someone other than Kevin White or Mario Alford has gone over the 100-yard mark in receiving. After Saturday’s performance, Thompson now has 20 catches for 283 yards and two touchdowns and could be the reliable No. 3 guy the coaches have been seeking.
And the timing couldn’t be better with Baylor on the horizon.
Steve Sabins | May 11
Monday, May 11
Alumni Series | Violet Hewett
Friday, May 01
SWIM: What it Means to Represent West Virginia
Wednesday, April 29
SWIM: What it Means to Become a Mountaineer
Wednesday, April 29
