MORGANTOWN, W.V. (KCBD) – With a spot already clinched in next week’s Big 12 Championship game, the No. 5 Texas Tech Red Raiders (11-1, 8-1 Big 12) made good on their tune-up game as they dominated the West Virginia Mountaineers 49-0 at Milan Puskar Stadium- the team’s second shutout this season.
“I am so proud of our guys! We woke up this morning, we knew we were in the Big 12 Championship, so I was a little nervous how we were going to come out. If we were going to be happy for that, and not play at the level of our standard and they didn’t,” said Red Raider head coach Joey McGuire. “They came out fast, I thought we played really well. We were able to play a lot of guys today, and they were able to execute at a high level.”
With a trip to the Big 12 title game is already booked, the team now wants to maintain its high standing in the College Football Playoff bracket and potentially have a first-round bye.
“It really excites me! Again, that’s an old locker room, we got some vets and they understood what we’re playing for and we definitely want to move up. We’ve got to go win the Big 12 and that will help us move up, but we want to move up!,” said coach McGuire. “We’re at five right now, and we want to get as high as we can get in those rankings. I think itt’ll make a huge difference for us. That was a big part of today, I was proud of how they responded.”
Tech limited West Virginia to 180 yards, only 37 on the ground. Interceptions from defensive back Brice Pollock and Amier Boyd upped the season’s takeaway count to 27.
The Red Raiders’ offense struck early and often. With less than four minutes into the game, linebacker and Heisman candidate Jacob Rodriguez put Tech on the board when he rushed in for his second offensive touchdown in the last two outings. Quarterback Behren Morton added two more early scores with touchdown strikes to running back Cameron Dickey and two more to wide receiver Caleb Douglas, who caught for 127 yards Saturday. Red Raider tight end Terrance Carter led the team in catches, 10 for 98 yards.
Texas Tech will play in Big 12 Championship game against BYU.(KCBD, Justin Margoulis)
With a 35-0 lead in the third, Morton was replaced by Mitch Griffis. Along with his three TD’s, Morton completed 25 of 32 passes and threw for 310 yards in his abbreviated of play. He also lead the Red Raiders to five of six successful trips in the red zone.
“It just gives us confidence,” Morton said. “Coach McGuire calls it the ”No Stone Zone”, we don’t like to see (kicker Stone Harrington) in that area, but I thought we executed pretty well. Coach Leftwich had a great game plan, we knew what they were going to do so we just went out there and executed.”
Griffis would soon exit the game as an injury precaution and from there, freshman QB Lloyd Jones III would take over and finished off with two TD throws to wide receiver Micah Hudson, who scored for the first time in his collegiate career.
In next week’s Big 12 Title game, the Red Raiders will have a rematch against No. 11 BYU, whom they beat on Nov. 8 29-7 in front of a College GameDay crowd at Jones AT&T Stadium. Kickoff for next week’s game set for 11 a.m. at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
On Saturday, BYU overcame a 14-0 deficit to beat UCF 41-21 up in Provo, Utah.
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