Texas Tech football: Red Raiders will beat West Virginia if…
Today, the Texas Tech football team will beat the West Virginia Mountaineers if the following occurrences take place.
Today, the Red Raiders will resume their newest conference rivalry. What’s more, every time Texas Tech and West Virginia meet, it pits one of the youngest programs in the FCS against one of the oldest.
In fact, they’ve been playing college football in Morgantown since 1891. While we often think about programs like Texas, TCU, or Oklahoma as being some of the oldest in the game, West Virginia is right there in that category and because of their early origins, the Mountaineers rank near the top of some important categories in the game of college football.
With 760 all-time wins, WVU is No. 15 out of 131 FBS programs. Also, their all-time winning percentage of .598 is good for 27th among all programs.
Interestingly, the Mountaineers also have a winning record over six of their nine Big 12 rivals. Being as they are 5-5 all-time against Kansas State, the only programs in the conference that they trail in the head-to-head series are the two Oklahoma schools.
But while today’s game won’t turn this series in Tech’s favor given that WVU holds a 6-3 all-time lead, it could be one of the most important wins of the Matt Wells era should his team find a way to prevail.
Make no mistake, the heat is starting to increase around this coaching staff. Sitting at just 1-3 this year (and being perilously close to 0-4), Wells and Co. are on the verge of losing what’s left of the portion of the fan base that is still emotionally invested in Texas Tech football (and that’s an ever-decreasing number of people).
If Tech can’t get this game, we might be looking at a 1-6 start to the year with games against Oklahoma and TCU next on the schedule. Should that happen, Wells will be guaranteed his second-straight losing season and that would make him the first Jerry Moore in 1981-82 to begin his Red Raider career with consecutive losing seasons.
But this is a game that Tech can win. WVU is still a young team that is a year away from being a true contender in the conference. Yes, they are 3-1 but they have played the easiest part of their schedule thus far.
After taking on a putrid FCS foe in Eastern Kentucky, WVU had the fortune of playing Oklahoma State on the weekend when the Cowboys had to start their true freshman QB, Shane Illingworth, for the first time in his career. Still, the Mountaineers couldn’t take advantage in a 28-17 loss.
When they faced Baylor, it was just the Bears’ second game of the year and Baylor was still dealing with the repercussions from multiple COVID-19 cases within the program. Plus, Baylor isn’t a very good team. The Mountaineers then got to play Kansas, the worst Power 5 team in the NCAA.
So despite the fact that most people are simply assuming that the Mountaineers will take this game, this is one that is truly a toss-up and one that Tech has a legitimate shot at winning. And the Red Raiders will beat the Mountaineers if…