Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia was unable to dig itself out of a 17-0 first-half hole, falling 23-20 to Texas Tech in a homecoming game here at Milan Puskar Stadium Saturday afternoon.
 
Jonathan Garibay's 32-yard field goal with 18 seconds left was the deciding score for the Red Raiders, now 4-1.
 
It's the second time in as many weeks West Virginia lost on a late field goal. Last week at Oklahoma, the Sooners got a 30-yard field goal with no time remaining to knock off the upset-minded Mountaineers 16-13.
 
Perhaps the effects of that loss were still lingering today?
 
Texas Tech, outscored 42-14 in the first quarter of its first four games this year, got a pair of SaRodorick Thompson 1-yard first quarter touchdown runs to build a 14-0 lead. Thompson has been a thorn in West Virginia's side in Texas Tech's three straight wins, scoring five touchdowns in all.
 
"(Texas Tech) did a good job," Neal Brown said. "They got us outflanked a couple of times, and they made some plays down the field. I thought their energy level was better than ours and they converted some third downs early in the contest."
 
Thompson's second touchdown run today came as a result of Jarret Doege's fumble when he was blindsided by linebacker Colin Schooler and Devin Drew recovered the ball at the West Virginia 34.
 
Late in the second quarter, Garibay's 33-yard field goal with no time showing on the clock gave Tech a 17-0 halftime lead.
 
West Virginia, after generating just 109 yards of offense in the first half, finally came alive in the third quarter with a pair of touchdowns, sandwiched around Casey Legg's 36-yard field goal. It was the first time this season West Virginia has scored a second-half touchdown against a Power 5 opponent.
 
The Mountaineers began the third quarter by marching 75 yards in seven plays, culminating with Leddie Brown's 4-yard touchdown run. However, West Virginia was forced to burn one of its three timeouts after Isaiah Esdale's short catch moved the ball to the Red Raider 5.
 
Two plays prior, Sam James made an outstanding, 40-yard grab of a Doege pass to advance the football to the Tech 14.
 
After Legg's 36-yard field goal, capping a nine-play, 46-yard drive, West Virginia got into the end zone once again four minutes later to tie the game at 17.
 
The big play was Esdale's 55-yard catch and run taking the football to the Texas Tech 26. Four plays later, Esdale completed the drive with a tough, 14-yard touchdown reception in the middle of the end zone. Targeting was also called on the play but was overruled by the replay official.
 
Two long Henry Colombi passes, one to Loic Fouonji for 46 yards when he got behind Nicktroy Fortune, and the other to Kaylon Geiger for 42 yards when he beat Daryl Porter Jr., down the far sideline, set up Garibay's two fourth-quarter field goals of 29 and 36 yards.
 
West Virginia knotted the game at 20 with 7:12 left when it got a 28-yard field goal from Legg. After Doege's 14-yard pass to Winston Wright Jr. gave the Mountaineers a first and 10 at the Red Raider 12, the Mountaineers were forced to use its second red zone timeout.
 
"We had the wrong personnel grouping in there," Brown said. "That's on me. We felt like we had a really good play and should have scored a touchdown there."
 
Two Leddie Brown runs up the middle netted just 6 yards, giving WVU a third and four at the 6. Here, Doege stood in the pocket and tried a pass to Brown in the near corner of the end zone that he was unable to secure.
 
"We had a good play on third down; we missed the throw and maybe it was four-down territory there," Neal Brown said. "You always kind of question yourself after the fact. I thought we played well offensively in the second half, we kept them off balance, and we needed to score a touchdown there."
 
Brown said earlier this week that the three areas that beat West Virginia the first two times it lost to Texas Tech were turnovers, rushing yardage and red zone difficulties. 
 
All three showed up against today.
 
WVU's lone turnover directly led to Texas Tech's second touchdown, West Virginia's ground game generated just 94 yards on 27 attempts and the Mountaineers scored touchdowns on only two of their four red zone opportunities today.
 
Colombi completed 23-of-34 passes for 266 yards, seven of those going to Geiger for 82 yards. Leading receiver Erik Ezukanma did not play in today's game.
 
Doege rebounded from a tough first half to complete 25of-33 for 318 yards and a touchdown. Wright Jr. caught nine for 106 yards while Esdale added six catches for 113 yards, the first time this season West Virginia has had a 100-yard receiver.
 
"People can get (mad) at me, I'm fine with that, but (Doege) played well in the second half," Brown said. "If they want to be upset with all of us in the first half, that's fair, but I thought he gave us a chance."
 
Leddie Brown finished today with a game-best 57 yards on 17 attempts.
 
West Virginia used a two-quarterback platoon in the first half with freshman Garrett Greene taking over on the game's third possession. He marched the team 54 yards to the Red Raider 34 where the drive ended on downs. 
 
The Mountaineers also juggled its offensive line a little bit in the second half, inserting redshirt freshman Jordan White at right guard on a couple of occasions.
 
Safety Sean Mahone led the West Virginia defense with 10 tackles and an interception on the game's opening possession. Dante Stills was credited with two sacks and three tackles for loss, while Akheem Mesidor and Taijh Alston combined for another sack.
 
Brown admitted his team's poor start this afternoon caught him off guard.
 
"We practiced well on Tuesday and Wednesday, which is a pretty good indicator, but we did not play well in the first half and that's not going to be good enough," he noted. "We battled back, and that's a credit to everyone involved, but what we put out there in the first half is not any good."
 
An announced crowd of 54,090 attended today's game. College football Hall of Famer Darryl Talley was on hand to have his jersey No. 90 officially retired at the end of the first quarter.
 
West Virginia (2-3) returns to the road to face 21^st-ranked Baylor, which knocked off Iowa State last weekend, next Saturday in Waco. The game will kick off at noon and will be televised nationally on FS1.