Wreck'Em Red
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Texas Tech football: These toss-up games will decide how 2019 plays out

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 29: Alan Bowman #10 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders passes the ball during the first half of the game against the West Virginia Mountaineers on September 29, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 29: Alan Bowman #10 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders passes the ball during the first half of the game against the West Virginia Mountaineers on September 29, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

Game 9 at West Virginia

Many Texas Tech fans wanted the Red Raiders to hire Dana Holgorsen away from West Virginia to replace Kliff Kingsbury but that didn’t happen, much to their chagrin.  However, we might still benefit from Holgorsen’s departure to Houston because he seemed to have the Red Raiders’ number.

WVU has won the last five games in the series including last year’s 42-34 contest in Lubbock.  What’s more, Tech has not prevailed in the Appalachian Mountains since 2013, when Davis Webb and Jace Amaro led the way in a 37-27 win in 2013, Kingsbury’s first season.

But this could be the year for Tech to finally put another win on the board against the Mountaineers.  That’s because Holgorsen left the cupboard rather empty for his replacement, Neal Brown.

The QB situation is in flux with OU transfer Austin Kendall failing to claim the job this spring over Miami transfer Jack Allison.  And they will be playing behind an offensive line that could have just one player in the same spot as last year.  What’s more, WVU lost its top two receivers from 2018 meaning that Brown, the former Red Raider OC under Tommy Tuberville, may have to work some magic with his offense.

On the other side of the ball, WVU will be leaving behind the 3-3-5 scheme that gave Tech so many fits over the years.  Hopefully, as they go back to a 4-2-5 system, they will have less success in slowing the Red Raiders who have topped 40 points against the Mountain Men just once.  That came in 2011’s 49-14 win in the team’s first-ever meeting as Big 12 foes.

One of the reasons WVU has had such success against Tech is that they have been more physical and played with more of an edge than the Red Raiders.   They have gone to extreme lengths at times to drive home that feeling, even instigating pregame scuffles on more than on occasion (they once even came to midfield at Jones Stadium to slam a sledgehammer on the Double-T logo).

There’s no telling if Brown’s teams will keep that attitude but Wells has repeatedly said that he wants his team to play a more physical brand of football this year.  If Tech can finally man-up and go into Morgantown with the type of toughmindedness that is required to beat WVU in their house, it will speak volumes about the type of program the new coaching staff is building in Lubbock.  Maybe Tech should take a branding iron to the center of the field in Morgantown to burn the Double-T into the turf to start setting a new tone.

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