After pulling off a huge win against the Texas Longhorns last week, West Virginia is going back to the Lone Star State to face off against Texas Tech. The Mountaineers are currently ranked 5th in the AP Poll and a win here could put them at the three or four spot.
Geno Smith played a great game against Texas last week; throwing for 268 yards and four touchdowns. Smith also proved to be human as he fumbled twice in the game with one being recovered for a touchdown. He led the Mountaineers down the field time and time
again scoring on almost every possession. Head coach Dana Holgorsen and Smith both seemed to be on the same page when it came to fourth down, they were a perfect five for five on fourth down conversion attempts. If the Mountaineers can show this kind of gutsiness against the Red Raiders, then there should be no reason why they lose.
The player having the biggest impact last week was running back Andrew Buie, who rushed for 207 yards on 31 carries and scored two touchdowns. He also had a big night receiving, grabbing three balls for 66 yards. Buie was the go to guy on third down and he helped convert many third and long and third and short opportunities. He might have an easier time with this the Red Raiders since their defense is allowing 92.5 rushing yards per game this year. If Buie gets a majority of the carries, and delivers a performance like he did against the Longhorns, then he should be able to add a few more yards onto that average.
The Mountaineers' receivers were a lot quieter this week than in the past. They weren’t putting up ridiculous amounts of yards or hauling two or three touchdowns apiece and most of that was due to Texas’ great secondary. However, two Mountaineer receivers had a big game. Tavon Austin caught ten passes for 102 yards and one touchdown while Stedman Bailey had eight receptions for 75 yards and three touchdowns. These two receivers continue to excel and both are having spectacular seasons. Austin and Bailey are also in the Heisman race with Tavon being ranked 10th and Stedman coming in at 12th. Texas Tech has a very solid secondary as they have only allowed four passing touchdowns this year. So this game might prove to be somewhat difficult for Smith and his receivers.
While the defense has struggled with stopping the pass, last week it looked like a whole new team. They only allowed one receiving touchdown and gave up 269 yards through the air. While this may not seem so great based on how they have played in past games, this game showed that the secondary may have finally found their mojo. The defense even did a pretty decent job at stopping the run. While they did give up four touchdowns to Longhorn running back Joe Bergeron, none of them came from more than a few yards out. Texas Tech’s running game is putting up about 168 yards per game. However, the Mountaineers excel at stopping the run and they will need their defensive linemen and linebackers to plug up holes when it’s time to run. The Red Raiders’ also have a very potent passing offense, as they are racking up 341 yards per game. If the Mountaineer defense can play like it did last week then that number might drop a little bit.
One player the Mountaineer defense must look out for is quraterback Seth Doege. Doege has thrown for 1,392 yards this season with 15 touchdowns and six interceptions. If the defense can get to him like they did to David Ash then it will be a long day for Doege. Luckily, Doege isn’t really a threat to tuck the ball and run. The defense will have to hit him hard early and often if they have hopes of getting inside his head and having him make mistakes. The Mountaineer defense does have a few interceptions this year; this would be a great game to show to other Big 12 teams that they can take away a few passes.
Once again the Mountaineer secial teams didn't really have to do much since their offense continued to roll and they only had to punt it away once. Kicker Tyler Bitancurt was two for three on field goals, but a perfect six for six on extra-point kicks. Bitancurt has been a decent kicker this year, but has struggled with quite a few missed field goals. If he can improve on this one area then there should be no reason why West Virginia doesn’t beat their opponents by more.
While Texas Tech's defense does seem to have the upper hand in this one look what the Mountaineers did to Texas' defense last week. If Geno and the defense can play like they did against the Longhorns then there should be no reason why they can’t come out on top in this one. Kickoff for this game will be at 3:30.
Prediction: WVU-45 Texas Tech-37
Player of the Game: Geno Smith 36/45 350 yards 5TDs
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