MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Coach Neal Brown calls Saturday's Big 12 opener against Texas Tech "critical" for several reasons.
 
No. 1, his West Virginia football team was picked to finish last in the conference's preseason media poll announced earlier this summer, meaning reporters who cover Texas Tech were among those selecting them last.
 
No. 2, WVU is coming off an emotional Backyard Brawl victory before one of the most festive Milan Puskar Stadium atmospheres in years, and the Mountaineers are seeking three straight victories for the first time since 2018.
 
No. 3, West Virginia needs to protect its home turf if it wants to have a successful season.
 
And, finally, Texas Tech has owned West Virginia the last four years. The Red Raiders whipped the Mountaineers in Morgantown 38-17 in 2019, won by a touchdown in Lubbock in 2020, used a late field goal to win again here two years ago, and last year, won comfortably 48-10.
 
Brown said last year's performance in Lubbock was probably the worst of his WVU tenure.
 
"It was a very poor performance down in Lubbock; they've got a better team this year, in my opinion, and we've got to be ready," Brown said.
 
A big issue for West Virginia last year was its inability to block interior linemen Jaylon Hutchings and Tony Bradford, both of whom return. The duo combined for six tackles and wreaked enough havoc up front to cause six tackles for losses in last year's game.
 
Blocking them on Saturday will pose a big challenge for the Mountaineers.
 
"They've gotten after us. Their D-line versus our O-line, we've had issues, and they've won those head-to-head battles, especially the interior part," Brown said, adding his returning linemen Zach Frazier, Tomas Rimac, Brandon Yates, Doug Nester and Wyatt Milum are aware.
 
"Oh yeah, it's on tape," he said. "People ask, 'Are you going to have a hard time after a rivalry game?' The answer is it shouldn't be. All we have to do is watch the tape from last year."
 
Texas Tech poses other issues.
 
Offensively, Brown believes Tech's wide receiver corps, led by Jerand Bradley, could be the best group in the Big 12. So far, Bradley leads the Red Raiders with 17 catches for 211 yards and two touchdowns.
 
Running back Tahj Brooks is vastly underrated, according to Brown, and is coming off a 19-carry, 158-yard performance in last week's blowout victory over Tarleton State. In last year's win against the Mountaineers in Lubbock, Brooks ran 17 times for 107 yards and two touchdowns.
 
Texas Tech supporters have been lukewarm toward starting quarterback Tyler Shough, pronounced shuck, but he's won nine of his 12 games as a starter for the Red Raiders since transferring from Oregon. Shough has passed for 743 yards and seven touchdowns so far this season and shows 4,622 yards and 36 touchdowns in 29 career games.
 
Sophomore backup Behren Morton got to play in last Saturday's Tarleton State win and completed 8 of his 13 pass attempts for 72 yards and two touchdowns. Morton was impressive last year against WVU, completing 28 of 45 for 325 yards and two touchdowns.
 
West Virginia (2-1) will see tempo this Saturday for the first time this season.
 
"Offensively, they've been good for a long time," Brown noted. "They are really good at their skill positions: Tahj Brooks at running back, both quarterbacks are super-talented with a lot of speed and dynamic playmakers on the perimeter. They are going to play as fast as anybody in the country, so we've got to get lined up and we've got to tackle in space, and we've got to do it repeatedly."
 
Much like Pitt last weekend, Texas Tech is going to come after West Virginia defensively. That's in defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter's DNA. Many of the players who were responsible for limiting West Virginia to only 10 points and 282 yards of total offense in last year's game will be in Morgantown on Saturday.
 
"Defensively, they are an attacking group with a lot of veterans. They got after us last year," Brown said.
 
Punter Austin McNamara is considered among the best in the country, and the Red Raider return game is comprised of speedy and skilled players.
 
Texas Tech (1-2) lost 35-33 in two overtimes at Wyoming to begin the season and fell 38-30 to Oregon in Lubbock a week later. In both games, Texas Tech had fourth-quarter leads.
 
"They've got a very good football team, and they've played a tough schedule so far as well," Brown explained. "They played at Wyoming, which is a tough venue and really a hard game for an opener. They played Oregon and were up in both of those games in the fourth quarter with a chance to win."
 
West Virginia, coming off back-to-back wins over Duquesne and Pitt after droppings its season opener at No. 7 Penn State, might have to go with backup quarterback Nicco Marchiol against Texas Tech.

Starter Garrett Greene was injured on the sixth play of last Saturday's Pitt win and was wearing a walking boot on the sidelines in the second half.
 
Earlier this week, Brown said Marchiol got most of the practice reps with true freshman Sean Boyle taking the backup reps. Marchiol tried just nine passes against Pitt, completing six, for 60 yards and a touchdown.
 

"We've got to come out and we've got to establish the run game, and we've got to be more efficient in the pass game, and we've got to create some explosives," Brown said.
 
A week ago, WVU relied on CJ Donaldson Jr.'s running and a stingy defense that allowed the Panthers just 144 yards after the game's opening possession.
 
WVU's secondary picked off three Phil Jurkovec passes and limited him to just 81 yards on 8-of-20 passing. Pitt's longest play from scrimmage was a 27-yard pass to tight end Gavin Bartholomew late in the game.
 
Brown is going to need a similar performance from his defense and more from his offense if he wants to end Tech's four-game winning streak in the series on Saturday.
 
"Texas Tech has had our number. They've beaten us four times in a row, and they've beaten us the last two times at Mountaineer Field," Brown said. "This is the first opportunity for this team in Big 12 Conference play to prove the so-called experts wrong.
 
"We were picked 14^th in the league, and this is our first Big 12 game so let's see what we've got," he added.
 
Saturday's game has been tabbed a Gold Rush with Mountaineer fans encouraged to wear gold. The 33^rdannual WVU Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place in the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility at 1 p.m. and among the six inductees on Saturday will be former Mountaineer grid standout Bruce Irvin.
 
Also, a 30-year reunion of the 1993 team, which played in the Sugar Bowl, has been organized for this weekend with returning players and coach Don Nehlen recognized on the field at the end of the first quarter. Captains Rich Braham, Mike Collins and Tim Brown, and quarterback Jake Kelchner, are among those expected to be at the game.
 
Tickets remain and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com or by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME.
 
"It's our Big 12 opener, our third game in a row at home, and we need our fan base to show up just like they did a week ago. We need them even more so," Brown said.
 
A 3:30 p.m. kick off has been established with ESPN+ (Drew Carter, Dustin Fox and Tori Petry). handling the television coverage.
 
Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage begins with the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show at 12:30 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com and the popular Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps leading into regular network coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning at 2:30 p.m.