Coming off a rivalry marked with so much history between WVU and Pittsburgh, the Mountaineers will continue the formation of a young story between themselves and the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Saturday.
After joining the Big 12 in the 2012 college football season, West Virginia traveled to Lubbock, Texas to play the Red Raiders for the second time in history and the first time since 1937. Texas Tech memorably evened the series 1-1 that game as they defeated the Mountaineers 49-14.
Since then, the two football teams have played each other every season. Though marked by two main streaks, the series is even 6-6 between the Red Raiders and the Mountaineers. Despite the lacking history between the teams, there are notable moments from this rivalry in the past 11 seasons.
2012: Texas Tech releases 85 years of pent-up aggression
In a critical moment of recent Mountaineers history, the undefeated, fifth ranked West Virginia team lost 49-14 to Texas Tech, sending themselves on a downward spiral for the season.
After leading just 14-7 in the first quarter, the Red Raiders exposed West Virginia’s defense for three touchdowns in the second quarter, sending them to a 35-7 lead at halftime. Defensively, Texas Tech never let up, forcing West Virginia to earn their second touchdown with just under three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
The team lost the next four games of the season to even their record to 5-5. WVU’s Geno Smith, who threw for 656 yards and eight touchdowns against Baylor earlier that season, came to almost a complete stop during and after this game.
2014-2018: Mountaineers Winning Streak
After two straight losses against the Red Raiders, Dana Holgorsen and WVU chalked the longest winning streak of this 12 game series between 2014 and 2018 with five straight victories.
The Mountaineers won the first of these five in dramatic fashion, trailing 27-20 as they entered the final quarter of play and allowing Texas Tech to score the first touchdown of the quarter. With just over seven and a half minutes remaining, the Mountaineers quickly brought things together for two touchdowns, tying the game 34-34. With no time left on the game’s clock, West Virginia sophomore Josh Lambert kicked the longest field goal of his career (55 yards) to beat the Red Raiders for the first time since 1937.
West Virginia carried this momentum into the next season, as they won 31-26 in their first of two games with Patrick Mahomes at the helm for Texas Tech. In 2016, the Mountaineers repeated the feat in a more convincing manner, as they sacked Mahomes four times in their 48-17 victory to bring their record to 5-0 on the season.
The next season, Holgorsen’s quarterback Will Grier completed 32/41 passes for 352 yards and five touchdowns to bring West Virginia the 46-35 win as the underdogs. Grier threw 27/41 for 370 yards and three touchdowns the next season to give the 12th ranked Mountaineers their fourth win of the season and their final victory of the win streak.
Neal Brown vs. Red Raiders
Including two interim head coaching stints, Texas Tech has had six different head coaches since West Virginia was added to the Big 12 in 2012, with WVU seeing four of them in their last 11 games. Each holds a win on their record against the Mountaineers, but Neal Brown, serving as West Virginia’s coach since 2019, has yet to return the favor.
In Brown’s four meetings with the Red Raiders, the most points his team has scored was 27 points in 2020, where the Mountaineers lost by a touchdown. In these games, Texas Tech holds an average margin-of-victory of 17.25, with their largest victory gap coming last season, where they won 48-10 over WVU.
The Red Raiders show no signs of easing their high-scoring tendencies this season, as in their first three games, Texas Tech has scored 30 or more points every time, boasting an average score of 35.3. As such, Neal Brown will have to get his team locked in defensively if he plans on gaining his first victory against Texas Tech.
The 13th game between the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Texas Tech Red Raiders comes Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Mountaineer Field.
