Texas Tech Preview
October 08, 2014 11:47 AM | General
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia returns to the place, Lubbock, Texas, where it got its first lesson in what life sometimes can be like on the road in the Big 12 Conference.
Two years ago, in 2012, the fourth-ranked Mountaineers were riding high after big victories over Maryland, Baylor and Texas when they arrived in Lubbock to play fired-up Texas Tech. Then about five hours later reality set in.
The Red Raiders ran up 508 yards of offense and 49 points in a dominating 35-point victory. West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith had one of his worst passing performances that season, completing just 30-of-58 passes for 278 yards and one touchdown.
It was windy that afternoon, but West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen doesn’t believe that was much of a factor in his team’s poor performance.
“It sure didn’t affect them because they threw for about 500 yards and had 49 points,” he said.
For years, Texas Tech has been known for its offense, dating back to the Mike Leach/Holgorsen years in the early 2000s. In fact, since 2000, Texas Tech has produced more yards than any other school in the country (88,018) and the fourth-most points (6,625). Holgorsen, of course, was there for a lot of those yards and points until moving on to Houston in 2008.
“I’ve got a history with Texas Tech, as everybody knows,” he said. “I’ve been out there a bunch.”
Holgorsen also has a history with Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury. He was Texas Tech’s wide receivers coach when Kingsbury was a senior quarterback in 2000, and later the two worked together on Kevin Sumlin’s staff at Houston.
“Kliff could never let go of the game,” said Holgorsen. “When he went to the NFL he bounced around at four or five different places. It started to fizzle out for him and I was always in contact with him, so I said, ‘Move to Houston, keep training, if you get an opportunity great and if you don’t, then see if this coaching thing is worth your time.’ At some point he just said he was done with it and then went full throttle into coaching and obviously been successful ever since.”
Kingsbury’s first year in Texas Tech saw the Red Raiders win their first seven games, including a 37-27 come-from-behind victory at West Virginia, to climb to 10th in the national rankings before a late-season collapse in which Tech lost its five remaining regular season games.
Four of those five defeats were by 18 points or more.
The Red Raiders were able to regroup to upset 21st-ranked Arizona State, 37-23, in the Holiday Bowl, but the struggles have continued in 2014.
After a pair of opening-season wins over Central Arkansas and UTEP, Texas Tech (2-3) has lost its last three games to Arkansas, Oklahoma State and Kansas State by an average of 21 points per game.
Defensive coordinator Matt Wallerstedt resigned three games into the season and the job of running the Red Raider defense is now in the hands of co-defensive coordinator Mike Smith, who is sharing the calls with the rest of the defensive staff.
In the two games since Wallerstedt’s resignation, Texas Tech has given up 528 yards and 45 points in a 10-point road loss to Oklahoma State and 535 yards and 45 points in a 32-point defeat at Kansas State last weekend. Still, Holgorsen said he has seen improvement in them over the last couple of weeks.
“They’ve simplified and I’ve seen better effort,” he said. “I see a defense that is playing with more energy. What they are dealing with on defense is what we dealt with on offense last year. They’ve got a lot of new faces. They were very senior-oriented last year; nine of the guys who played against us last year are not there.”
Texas Tech’s offense has also fallen on hard times, producing just 347 yards of offense and 13 points in last Saturday’s loss at K-State. Quarterback Davis Webb had one of the worst passing performances of his career, completing just 22 of his 43 attempts for 247 yards with four interceptions.
He has thrown eight interceptions in his last three games.
In last year’s game at West Virginia, Webb looked like the second coming of Tom Brady when he passed for 462 yards and two touchdowns in Tech’s 37-27 victory.
“Davis Webb is still the Davis Webb that he was last year when he came out and beat us in the second half,” said Holgorsen.
The Red Raiders also have a dangerous threat at running back in junior DeAndre Washington, who leads the team with 326 yards. He has already carried the football 60 times so far this season, an unusually high number for Red Raider running backs based on how much they have run the football in the past.
“Kliff is running it more than he ever has,” said Holgorsen. “He’s up to about 33 percent.”
Speaking of running the football, Mountaineer running backs are toting the ball more frequently this season as well. Heading into week six, only Baylor (248 attempts) among Big 12 schools shows more rushes than West Virginia’s 217 attempts.
The Mountaineers had their first 100-yard rusher of the season last weekend against Kansas when Rushel Shell gained 113 yards on 21 carries. He has also scored at least rushing touchdown in four straight games and leads the team with 380 yards and four touchdowns.
The ground game churned out a season-high 251 yards against the Jayhawks to balance out a passing attack that was solid though not spectacular.
Clint Trickett passed for 302 yards and a touchdown, but he completed just 57.1 percent of his pass attempts and threw an interception while trying to force one into double coverage near the goal line.
Trickett ranks No. 1 in the Big 12 and 14th nationally in passing efficiency and is fourth nationally in passing yardage (1,902). His No. 1 target is emerging All-America candidate Kevin White with 48 catches for 765 yards and four touchdowns through five games.
White has at least 100 yards receiving in each game so far this season, including a season high 13-catch, 216-yard performance against Maryland a month ago. No. 2 receiver Mario Alford has also been a big weapon this year, catching 32 passes for 387 yards and four touchdowns. Alford has taken two kickoffs back for touchdowns and leads the country with an average of 37.3 yards per return.
Defensively, the Mountaineers were two special teams miscues away from producing their second shutout of the season last weekend against Kansas. The Jayhawks were able to get a couple of cheap second-half scores, one following Jordan Thompson’s fumbled punt at the WVU 18, and the other a 76-yard punt return by Nick Harwell.
The punt team’s woes have been a continuing topic of conversation around the state.
“The five special teams blunders that have happened, you can’t pinpoint one person,” said Holgorsen. “We have identified as a whole what needs to change and we’ve challenged our entire punt team. It’s the same people – same everything – so what do you do? You challenge them to get better.”
Saturday’s game will be televised nationally on FOX Sports 1 and will kick off at noon.
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