MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -Bowl-eligible West Virginia concludes its regular season against another bowl-eligible team, Texas Tech, at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas, on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Red Raiders are now 7-4 overall and 5-3 in Big 12 play following last Saturday's 56-48 victory at Oklahoma State. It was the most points Tech has scored in a Big 12 road game in seven years.
 
Quarterback Behren Morton completed 37 of his 53 pass attempts for 404 yards and four touchdowns against the Cowboys, one of those going to running back Tahj Brooks, who rushed 28 times for 133 yards with three TDs.
 
Brooks, who is trailing UCF's RJ Harvey by 141 yards for the Big 12 rushing title, is second to San Diego State's Marquez Cooper among all active FBS backs with 4,369 career yards. The senior recently topped Byron Hanspard's school career rushing record against Colorado, and he's now fourth in Big 12 history, passing Missouri quarterback Brad Smith.
 
Brooks has rushed for more than 100 yards 18 times over his last 21 games since 2021, and currently leads all FBS backs with 21 consecutive games rushing for at least 95 yards.
 
He has a pair of 100-yard performances against West Virginia, gaining 149 last year in Morgantown and going for 107 two years ago in Lubbock.
 
Morton also had success against West Virginia in Lubbock two years ago when he completed 28 of 45 for 325 yards and two touchdowns in Tech's 48-10 blowout win, but last year, he was just 13 of 37 for 158 yards in a 20-13 Mountaineer win.
 
Morton's career passing figures include 546 completions in 890 attempts for 5,850 yards and 47 touchdowns in 32 career games.
 
The Red Raiders have a slew of pass catching options, led by 6-foot-1, 195-pound sixth-year senior Josh Kelly's 80 catches for 873 yards and five touchdowns.
 
Caleb Douglas, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound junior, has 52 catches for 712 yards and five touchdowns, while sophomore Coy Eakin, a 6-foot-2, 210-pounder, shows 39 catches for 557 yards and a team-best six scores.
 
Tight end Jalin Conyers, a 6-foot-4, 265-pounder, has caught 25 passes for 271 yards and five touchdowns while teammate Mason Tharp is one of the tallest tight ends in the country standing 6-feet-9. He has 10 catches for 85 yards and a touchdown.
 
The Red Raiders are ranked 11^th in passing offense, 12^th in scoring offense and 17^th in total offense. Other noteworthy categories are first downs, ranked 10^th, third-down conversion rate, ranked 13^th, red zone offense, also ranked 13^th, and interception avoidance, ranked 24^th.
 
"They do a lot of things," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "They're balanced, and they have one of the better players in the league in running back Tahj Brooks, who has been there for a long time. He's great in the running game, but they also use him in the passing game. Their quarterback is playing at a high level, and they've got a lot of playmakers at both tight end and wideout.
 
"It's going to be a challenge. They play really fast, and they like to get the ball down the field," Brown added.
 
Texas Tech has a wide disparity in first-quarter scoring where the Red Raiders are outscoring their opponents 120 to 69.
 
Defensively, however, it's been another matter.
 
Tech ranks 125^th in scoring defense this week, giving up 36.3 points per game. The Red Raider pass defense ranks last in the conference and is 132^nd out of 134 teams, surrendering 309.9 yards per contest, while their total defensive ranking is 125^th this week, allowing 456.2 yards per game.
 
Other deficient areas are penalties (124^th), first-down defense (122^nd), pass efficiency defense (118^th), punt return defense (116^th), punt returns (112^th), red zone defense (107^th) and net punting (101^st).
 
When Tech does get stops, junior weakside linebacker Jacob Rodriguez is the player usually involved. The 6-foot-1, 230-pounder leads the Red Raider defense in virtually every category, including total tackles with 112. His stat line also includes 8½ tackles for loss, five quarterback hurries, four sacks, three pass breakups, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and an interception.
 
The Tech secondary has been able to come up with 12 interceptions, including three from senior strong safety C.J. Baskerville.
 
"They've played really well against the run, and we know what we're going to get," Brown pointed out. "They are going to blitz our run game; they've had success against us in the past, and we haven't played as well when we've gone out to Lubbock. That's going to be a challenge in itself."
 
Other areas of note are kickoff return defense, where Tech ranks 13^th, and place kicker Gino Garcia, who has made 15 of his 16 attempts this year including a long of 53 yards.
However, punter Jack Burgess shows a net of just 37.28 yards on his 43 punts.
 
"On special teams, they are really good in the return game," Brown said. "We need to handle this week well, and we're going to spend a lot of time together during Thanksgiving and then finish the season up on a strong note."
 
West Virginia (6-5 overall and 5-3 in Big 12 play) has struggled in its two prior trips to Lubbock in 2020 and 2022. Brown's first visit there in 2020 was tied in the fourth quarter until Zech McPhearson recovered Sam James' fumble and returned it 56 yards for a touchdown in a 34-27 Tech victory.
 
Two years ago, Texas Tech thoroughly dominated WVU in a 48-10 triumph. Quarterback Garrett Greene got into the game in relief of J.T. Daniels and completed one pass for 15 yards and ran twice for minus-1 yard.
 
Last year, it was backup Nicco Marchiol getting the snaps with Greene nursing an ankle injury, and the freshman led WVU to a 20-13 win, snapping Tech's four-game series winning streak. That was one of the best efforts by a West Virginia defense in the last couple of years, the Mountaineers limiting the Red Raiders to only 256 total yards and just one Morton touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.
 
The Mountaineers, like the Red Raiders, have had issues on defense all year long and come into Saturday's clash ranked 127^th in pass efficiency defense, 122^nd in pass defense, 121^st in interceptions, 117^th in turnovers gained and 11^th in fourth-down defense.
 
WVU's top three categories are penalty avoidance, ranked sixth with 45 in 11 games, rushing offense, ranked 22^nd averaging 197.5 yards per game, and fourth down conversion rate, ranked 23^rd at 65.7%.
 
Greene completed 13 of his 21 pass attempts for 118 yards and a touchdown, while contributing an additional 49 yards on the ground, in last Saturday's 31-21 win against UCF to become bowl eligible for the fourth time in six seasons at WVU under Brown.
 
"It was huge getting a win at home, period," Brown said. "We haven't played as well at home as we'd like this year. Against a good UCF team, we came out and played a complete game - offense, defense and special teams all had their moments during the game. 
 
"(Singing Take Me Home) Country Roads is always special, but to do it on Senior Day with guys that have really given so much to our program, I'm really happy for them," he said.
 
Greene is completing 55.5% of his 236 pass attempts for 1,707 yards and 12 touchdowns while rushing 116 times for 649 yards with five scores.
 
Junior CJ Donaldson Jr. led the ground attack last Saturday with 96 yards and two touchdowns, boosting his season totals to 621 yards and nine scores. Sophomore Jahiem White continues to lead the Mountaineers on the ground with 693 yards.
 
Tight end Kole Taylor has been the No. 1 pass catching target with 38 receptions for 396 yards and three touchdowns. Sophomore Hudson Clement is now second with 36 catches for 535 yards and three touchdowns.
 
Defensively, senior safety Anthony Wilson Jr. has reclaimed the team lead with 88 total tackles, four stops better than redshirt freshman linebacker Josiah Trotter's 84 tackles.
 
Senior defensive tackle TJ Jackson II continues to lead the Mountaineers with 6½ sacks and 13 tackles for loss.
 
West Virginia holds a 7-6 advantage in the series, which includes a 7-6 victory in the 1937 Sun Bowl. Since joining the Big 12 in 2012, the two teams are tied 6-6.
 
A noon kickoff has been established for Saturday's game and television coverage will be provided by FS1 with Eric Collins and Spencer Tillman handling the call.
 
Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage will be handled by Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning and will air on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.