Box Score Zech McPhearson returned a Sam James fumble 56 yards for a touchdown to help power Texas Tech a 34-27 victory over West Virginia in tonight's back-and-forth game at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas.
 
West Virginia (3-2) battled back from a 20-10 second-quarter deficit to tie the game at 20, and then again at 27 with six minutes left in the third quarter.

The decisive points came after West Virginia got possession of the football at the Red Raider 46 following a 27-yard Austin McNamara punt with 9:33 left in the game.
 
After a Leddie Brown 4-yard run got the ball to the 42, quarterback Jarret Doege completed a screen pass to James to the near side of the field where was met by Jacob Morgenstern, who ripped the football out of his arm and McPhearson scooped the ball up at the 44 on a dead run and raced untouched into the end zone.
 
It was West Virginia's only turnover of the game, and it was a costly one.
 
"Credit Texas Tech, they won the fourth quarter, and they won the game," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said.  "We lost the fourth quarter and lost the game; it was pretty much that simple.
 
"We had the ball with great field position inside our own 50, felt good about it, but missed a couple of blocks, fumbled the football, they return it and we didn't answer," Brown said. "This game is not complicated, and that is the story."
 
Texas Tech (2-3), as it did in last year's game in Morgantown when it defeated West Virginia 38-17, jumped out to an early lead.
 
The Red Raider defense turned a three-and-out West Virginia possession to begin the game into points when quarterback Henry Colombi squeezed in from the 1 on a fourth-and-goal run. The big play was Colombi's 44-yard completion to backup wide receiver Myles Price, in the game for starter Dalton Rigdon. 
 
Rigdon was one of four Red Raider wide receivers announced as late scratches for today's game, including KeSean Carter and T.J. Vasher.
 
Following Colombi's touchdown, the Mountaineers answered two minutes later when a couple of Doege passes, one to James for 32 yards and another to tight end Mike O'Laughlin for 34 yards, gave them a first and goal at the 3. 
 
Here, Brown bulled in for his sixth rushing touchdown of the season.
 
Tech struck again six minutes later when SaRodorick Thompson broke free and raced 48 yards for a touchdown. However, Trey Wolff missed the conversion kick, making Texas Tech's lead 13-7.
 
Tech also got into the end zone with 2:36 left in the second quarter when Trey Cleveland grabbed a Colombi pass over the middle to score an 11-yard touchdown.
 
Two long Evan Staley field goals, the second coming from 45 yards on the final play of the second quarter, pulled West Virginia to within a touchdown at halftime.
 
The Mountaineers knotted the score at 20 early in the third quarter following a Texas Tech fumble on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. Senior defensive end Jeffery Pooler Jr. forced Ja'Lynn Polk to cough up a screen pass and Dante Stills recovered the ball at the Red Raider 24.
 
Two plays later,  Doege hit tight end T.J. Banks right at the near pylon for a 2-yard touchdown – Banks' first career TD.
 
Tech's only second-half offensive possession resulting in points came immediately afterward. The Red Raiders marched 73 yards in nine plays, mostly on short passes and runs. The two big chunk plays on the drive were a face mask penalty called on Alonzo Addae that tacked 15 yards on to Travis Koontz's 7-yard reception and a Colombi 20-yard pass to Erik Ezukanma that got the football to the WVU 10.
 
Then, Brown dipped into his bag of tricks to answer Tech's score.
 
Facing a fourth and 3 at the WVU 42, he called a fake punt to protector Winston Wright Jr., who took the direct snap and ran 8 yards to midfield. On the very next play, Doege connected with Wright for a 38-yard pass down the near sideline, setting up Brown's second short touchdown run, this time from the 1.
 
Colombi completed 22-of-28 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown while making his first career start for Texas Tech. Thompson contributed 68 yards on the ground before leaving the game in the third quarter with an injury.
 
Five different Red Raider ball carriers netted 179 yards against a West Virginia defense that came into today's game ranked No. 1 in the country, giving up just 240.3 yards per game.
 
"They were able to ding us enough in the run game," Brown said. "It's going to be a tough game for us to win giving up (179) yards rushing."
 
Texas Tech managed to get a couple of first downs on the ground late in the game when it needed to milk the clock to preserve its touchdown lead. West Virginia played without its top tackler, Tony Fields II, for most of the game after he was ejected for targeting near the end of the first quarter when his helmet hit Colombi's as he was attempting to slide.
 
"Defensively, we didn't play well early. We recovered in the second half other than the one drive,  but I felt we got tired (late)," Brown said. "I thought their tempo bothered us and that should never be the case, but it was."
 
Doege, a Lubbock resident playing in front of friends and family, completed 32-of-50 passes for a career-high 347 yards and a touchdown. He was also victimized by several dropped passes.
 
"Our drops hurt us again," Brown said. "I don't know how many we had, but it was several."
 
Wright Jr. had a game-best nine receptions for 126 yards to produce his second 100-yard receiving game of the season.
 
Leddie Brown, despite his two short touchdown runs, had a difficult time finding room to run the football today. He ended up with 77 yards on 21 carries, his long run covering just 14 yards.
 
WVU's ground game accounted for 91 yards on 29 attempts.
 
"We called 29 runs for 91 yards, and that's not good enough," Brown said. "Some of that was a couple of pressures we had, sacks or whatever, but that's flat not good enough. We didn't get enough clean blocks up front and the running backs there was a lot of chopping their feet. When you chop your feet it allows them to come to you."
 
This is the second in a grueling five-game stretch that includes next week's home game against 20^th-ranked Kansas State, at Texas on Nov. 7, and then at home against TCU on Nov. 14 before the Mountaineers' next open weekend on Saturday, Nov. 21.
 
Texas Tech remains in Lubbock to face Oklahoma next Saturday.