Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia needed a fourth-down stop with 23 seconds left on its 12-yard line to hold on for a 20-13 victory over Texas Tech on a rainy, windy Saturday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium.
 
After three quarters of mostly defensive football, the two teams combined for 17 points in the fourth quarter, 10 of those coming from the Red Raiders.
 
"This is a game we needed to win," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said afterward. "This was the first opportunity to prove them wrong."
 
Brown was referencing the Big 12 Preseason media poll that had West Virginia last in 14^th place.
 
"We're not 14^th now," Brown added. 
 
Trailing 13-3 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Tech had its best offensive possession of the game by driving 79 yards in 13 plays, the key one being a fourth-and-9 conversion at its 44 for 15 yards down the far sideline when Behren Morton hooked up with Drae McCray for 15 yards to the WVU 41.
 
Two plays later, Tahj Brooks ran 27 yards to the WVU 6 to set up Morton's 6-yard fade pass to Jerand Bradley.
 
West Virginia, which generated just 30 yards of offense in the third quarter, responded with its best drive of the game with backup freshman quarterback Nicco Marchiol behind center.
 
Two critical Texas Tech defensive penalties on third down, the second coming against CJ Baskerville against Preston Fox in the end zone, gave WVU a first and 10 at the Red Raider 12. The other one was called on defensive lineman Tony Bradford Jr. when he grabbed Marchiol's facemask on a first-down run at the WVU 21.
 
One play after Baskerville's penalty, Marchiol rolled to his right and flipped a short pass to a wide-open Kole Taylor for a 9-yard touchdown. Michael Hayes' conversion kick gave WVU a 20-10 lead with 7:33 remaining.
 
Tech, which was successful on five straight fourth-down conversions before its final one, marched 59 yards in 14 plays before the drive stalled at the WVU 14. Here, the Red Raiders opted for a Gino Garcia 34-yard field goal to make it a 20-13 ballgame.
 
On its next possession, WVU was only able to burn 46 seconds of game time and had to give the ball back to Texas Tech with 3:45 left and the Red Raiders possessing all three timeouts.
 
The Red Raiders (1-3, 0-1) converted a pair of fourth downs, and got a replay reversal on a Morton pass down the near sideline to Jordan Brown that was ruled incomplete on the field at the WVU 23. However, officials determined Brown got one foot in bounds and was awarded a 26-yard reception.
 
Texas Tech, whose starting quarterback Tyler Shough was carted off the field with 1:46 left in the second quarter, outgained West Virginia 321 to 256. Morton finished the game completing just 13 of his 37 pass attempts for 158 yards, while Brooks had a game-high 149 yards rushing on 25 attempts.
 
For a second straight game, WVU played it close to the vest with Marchiol operating the offense in place of starter Garrett Greene, who is nursing a lower body injury. The freshman completed 12-of-21 passes for 78 yards but threw a pair of interceptions. He was the team's top ground-gainer with 72 yards on 15 attempts. 
 
WVU had a 34:50 to 25:10 advantage in time of possession, but the Red Raiders had an 81-to-64 edge in total plays, 58 of those coming in the second half.
 
"It wasn't pretty, offensively, but I thought Nicco did some good things. We've got to be better around him," Brown said. "My frustration offensively is we had too many missed opportunities."
 
West Virginia's defense was lights out in the first half by limiting Texas Tech to just 56 yards on 23 plays.
 
The Red Raiders' lone first-half score came on their second possession after Malik Dunlap's interception gave them the ball at the West Virginia 35. Tech made one first down to the WVU 24 before the defense stiffened, forcing a Garcia 39-yard field goal.
 
Marchiol was picked off again late in the second quarter when his third-down pass bounced off the shoulder pads of Devin Carter into the arms of linebacker Ben Carter, but this time the Mountaineers forced Tech to give up the ball on downs at the 46.
 
The lone touchdown of the first half came on West Virginia's third offensive possession when it marched 75 yards in 13 plays, culminating with CJ Donaldson Jr.'s 2-yard touchdown run. Sixty-one of the 75 yards were on the ground and WVU also benefited on a third-down defensive holding called on Jesiah Pierre.
 
Another Red Raider defensive penalty called on Brayln Lux, a pass interference while covering Traylon Ray, contributed to more Mountaineer points right before the end of the half. West Virginia (3-1, 1-0) ran the clock down to 30 seconds before Hayes kicked a 46-yard field goal.
 
Hayes' first field goal covered 28 yards, capping a 12-play, 56-yard march.
 
Texas Tech was penalized nine times for 96 yards while West Virginia was flagged only three times for 20 yards. The Red Raiders were just 2-of-18 on third down and 7-of-26 overall on conversion downs.
 
"I am really proud of our defense," Brown said. "We're playing better and we're doing a better job schematically. We won the battle up front on both sides."
 
Today's victory snaps Texas Tech's four-game winning streak over West Virginia, and it was also the first time under Brown the Mountaineers have won three games in a row.
 
West Virginia returns to the road at TCU next Saturday night. The Horned Frogs defeated nonconference rival SMU earlier today 34-17.