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Texas Tech football: Handing out game balls for victory over Mountaineers

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 24: Quarterback Henry Colombi #3 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders passes the ball during warmups before the college football game against the West Virginia Mountaineers on October 24, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 24: Quarterback Henry Colombi #3 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders passes the ball during warmups before the college football game against the West Virginia Mountaineers on October 24, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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LUBBOCK, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 26: Linebacker Colin Schooler #17 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders lines up for a play during the second half of the college football game against the Texas Longhorns on September 26, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 26: Linebacker Colin Schooler #17 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders lines up for a play during the second half of the college football game against the Texas Longhorns on September 26, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

LB Colin Schooler

Overshadowed by the over-reported fact that WVU QB Jarrett Doege was coming back to play in his hometown against the program that supposedly hurt his feelings when he was a recruit was the fact that each defense on Saturday was depending heavily on a linebacker transfer from the University of Arizona.   And it was the Red Raiders who got the most out of their former PAC-12 tacking machine.

While WVU’s Tony Fields II, who entered the game as the second-leading tackler in the Big 12, was thrown out of the game in the second quarter after being flagged for targeting, Tech’s Colin Schooler played his best game as a Red Raider and was a key factor in the victory.

Schooler was one of three Red Raider linebackers who had nine tackles to lead the team.  It was his most productive game this year topping the seven tackles he had in his Tech debut in week two against the Longhorns.  What’s more, six of those tackles were of the solo variety.

Also, Schooler was the player who forced the game-changing fumble from Sam James in the fourth quarter.  Stripping the ball from the receiver, who had been wrapped up by fellow Tech linebacker Jacob Morgenstern, Schooler did was he was brought to Lubbock to do…he made a tide-turning defensive play, one that led to Zech McPhearson‘s game-winning scoop-and-score.

Maybe we should have known on the first play of the game that Schooler was in for a big night.  Knifing through the line, he brought down WVU running back Leddie Brown for a one-yard gain to set the tone and let the Mountaineers know that they wouldn’t be able to simply run the ball right down Tech’s throat through the middle of the defense as they have done to so many teams already this year.

It appears that Schooler is growing more and more comfortable in his new defense with each passing week and that’s great news for Red Raider fans.  And because he finally made the type of impact we were all expecting him to make when he joined the program, Schooler gets an imaginary game ball.

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