Game Preview: Texas Tech at West Virginia

West Virginia (3-2) is coming off a tough loss against TCU in Fort Worth. The Mountaineers had tied the game at 24 late in the 4th quarter before ultimately falling to TCU, 31-24. As we have seen many times both with Texas Tech and other teams around the country, teams sometimes don’t respond well after an emotional, tough fought loss. Can Texas Tech take advantage and get their first win over the Mountaineers since 2013?

On paper, Texas Tech and West Virginia are as evenly matched as can be. Both have similar points per game, offensive ranking and defensive ranking. However, the major difference in these two team is that Texas Tech has had a tougher schedule to this point, shown more and have been a takeaway machine whereas West Virginia has lost to good teams by one possession and blown out very mediocre teams.

One insight is that both Texas Tech and West Virginia have played Kansas. West Virginia struggled with Kansas giving up almost 400 yards of rushing and needing a big 21 point 4th to pull away to a 56-34 victory , and Tech dominated Kansas winning easily, 65-19.

Here’s the tale of the tape:

West Virginia is favored by a slim 3.5 at home. Which may tell a lot about the changing perception of Texas Tech in 2017. An efficient offense, a budding run game and a takeaway happy defense has the experts thinking this might be Texas Tech’s year in Morgantown. If West Virginia drops this game they will be staring a 6-6 season in the face. Will that be enough for them to shake off last week’s loss to the Horned Frogs or will Tech send a message to the rest of the Big 12?


The game will be televised on ESPNU at 11am.

Check the Texas Tech website for radio affiliates in your area.

Here are some links from the week to get you caught up on West Virginia:

Opposition Q&A with the Smoking Musket

The Air Raid Podcast #100: West Virginia Preview

Enjoy the game and don’t forget to come hang with us during the game on the Gameday Thread or on Twitter @vivathematadors

Go Tech!