Box Score LUBBOCK, Texas – West Virginia moved the football at will in the first half, but in the end it took a fourth-quarter defensive touchdown to give the Mountaineers the score they needed to hold off 25^th-ranked Texas Tech 42-34 here at Jones AT&T Stadium Saturday afternoon.
 
The first half was all Mountaineers with WVU building a commanding 35-10 lead behind Will Grier's three touchdown passes. However, the Red Raider defense completely bottled up the Mountaineers after intermission.

"I focused all week on starting fast," West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. "I guess I forgot to tell them there was a second half."
 
Texas Tech (3-2, 1-1) scored 17 unanswered points in the second half and had possession of the football with less than four minutes remaining when Keith Washington made the play of the game.
 
Red Raider quarterback Jett Duffey, in the game for starting quarterback Alan Bowman, who was injured late in the second quarter, attempted a pass out in the general vicinity of Antoine Wesley along the near side of the field that Washington stepped in front of at the WVU 49.
 
Washington, making his first career start for WVU, caught the ball on a dead run, eluded Duffey at the 25 and returned it for a 51-yard touchdown.

"We were in a little hard-corner coverage, we banged (Felton) and he tried to fit it in and Keith made a heck of a play," West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said.

"Coach gave us a great play call and I just did my job," added Washington. "I hopped down in the zone and he threw it to me and I just tried to make a play."

It was the Mountaineers' third interception of the game, and their first for a TD since last year's Texas game.
 
Before Washington's score, the Red Raiders had momentum on their side in the second half by holding West Virginia to less than 100 yards of offense, sacking Grier twice and limiting WVU to just six first downs in a game that seemingly was never going to end.

"We've got to do a better job there when we had the big lead," Grier admitted.
 
Duffey completed 16 of 27 passes for 172 yards and a 2-yard touchdown to De'Quan Bowman, and ran 15 times for 86 yards and another score in leading Tech's second-half comeback.
 
West Virginia (4-0, 2-0) scored on five of its eight first-half offensive possessions to take a commanding 35-10 halftime lead.
 
At that point, Grier was in complete command of the Mountaineer offense, completing 21 of his 29 first-half pass attempts for 278 yards and three touchdowns, two to Gary Jennings Jr. and one to Marcus Simms.
 
The Mountaineer ground game also crossed the goal line twice, one coming on a pretty 38-yard run down the far sideline in the second quarter by Kennedy McKoy and the other a 1-yard burst from Leddie Brown.
 
West Virginia's 382 first-half yards marked the third straight game the Mountaineers have produced at least 300 yards in the first 30 minutes of action.
 
Simms also came up big in the first half with nine grabs for 138 yards and a TD.
 
Texas Tech, the nation's No. 1-ranked offense, scored twice in the first half, including Bowman's first-quarter, 40-yard scoring strike to Antoine Wesley. 
 
But the Red Raiders, who came into today's game 14-for-14 scoring touchdowns on their red-zone possessions, were later forced to kick a Clayton Hatfield 25-yard field goal in the second quarter.
 
Bowman left the game late in the second quarter with what appeared to be an upper body injury. He was hit by West Virginia blitzers Ezekiel Rose and Washington on an incomplete third-down pass during Tech's next-to-last offensive possession of the first half.
 
He jogged into the locker room but did not return.
 
Duffey came in and threw an interception to West Virginia's Kenny Robinson Jr., his second interception of the game. 

"We blitzed him the first few times and got him," Gibson said. "And then we had some blitzes called and we hesitated, we slowed down and hit him clean in the pocket and then when Keith got the pick I was like, 'Alright, let's just play some coverage.'"
 
The Mountaineers outgained Texas Tech 489 to 463, with most of that coming from Grier, who ended the game completing 27 of 41 for 370 yards.
 
Grier's 370 yards made it the 13^thtime in 15 career games at WVU he has passed for more than 300 yards in a game.
 
Simms was his once again his main target as defenses continue to focus on David Sills V and Gary Jennings Jr., with all his production coming before halftime.

"They're really good on offense," Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said. "Their skill is tremendous. Their quarterback is a great player. They've got a great scheme. But we can't make it that easy."

Jennings Jr. hauled in seven passes for 70 yards and two touchdowns. Sills V, who caught three touchdown passes a week ago against Kansas State, was limited to just four catches for 48 yards. He had an opportunity to add to that total in the fourth quarter when WVU was hunting for first downs, but dropped a pass over the middle that would have given WVU a first down at the Red Raider 28.
 
Jennings Jr. also uncharacteristically dropped a couple of passes, one in the seam that could have resulted in another touchdown.
 
Today's victory was West Virginia's fifth straight over Texas Tech and runs the Mountaineers' record to 3-1 in Lubbock.

West Virginia returns to Milan Puskar Stadium next Saturday for a noon homecoming game against Kansas.