The Texas Tech football team sent the seniors out on a high notescoring on each of its first seven drives and dismantling West Virginia 52-15 on Saturday in Jones AT&T Stadium.
The Red Raiders (8-4, 6-3) had to settle for field goals on their first two drives but found the end zone on their next five offensive possessions. The stars aligned with Behren Morton passing for 359 yards, Tahj Brooks running for a career-high 188 and Josh Kelly having 150 receiving.
A trio of sacks, an interception and a fumble recovery in the first half led the Red Raiders to a dominant showing in the first two quarters, and it was smooth sailing from there.
Utterly dominant first half for Texas Tech football
For the first time in quite a while, the Red Raiders had their way with a Big 12 opponent. Each of the team’s conference wins has come by one score. There was no suspense on Saturday.
Aside from having to settle for field goals on the team’s first two trips to the red zone, Texas Tech dominated every phase of the game. The defense sacked Garrett Greene three times and got an impressive interception by C.J. Baskerville and a strip-sack from Terrell Tilmon.
On offense, Tahj Brooks ran for three touchdowns while seniors Mason Tharp, Jalin Conyers and Josh Kelly all had big moments in what was a 35-3 advantage at halftime.
Stat nuggets from the blowout
Behren Morton eclipsed the 3,000-yard passing mark in the first quarter, becoming the first Tech quarterback to reach that milestone since Nic Shimonek did it in 2017.
Josh Kelly went over 1,000 yards receiving on the season in the fourth. He’s the first Red Raiders to hit 1,000 yards since Antoine Wesley in 2018.
The victory also gives Texas Tech an eight-win regular season for the first time since 2009. The Red Raiders can hit the nine-win mark for the first time since 2009 with a win in the bowl game.
Texas Tech improved to 6-3 in Big 12 play, the most conference wins in a season since the 2008 team went 7-1.
The 37-point margin of victory was Tech’s biggest in a Big 12 game since a 32-point win over Kansas in 2018.
More history for Tahj Brooks
Brooks holds pretty much every rushing record in Texas Tech history and added a few more milestones on Saturday.
The super-senior hit the 100-yard mark for the 11th time this season, setting the new Tech single-season mark.
With his final run in the fourth quarter, he reached the 1,500-yard mark for the season. No other Texas Tech running back has ever run for 1,500 yards in back-to-back seasons and Brooks is also the only back to run for 1,500 in multiple seasons.
