WVU loses to Texas Tech 53-48 in one of the wildest games I’ve ever seen. To be honest, it’s one of the most frustrating losses to I’ve experienced as a WVU fan as well. Let’s get into the why, and I’ll explain the frustrating part as well.
Defense (or lack thereof)
New game. Same story. Our defense stinks. This season is starting to turn into one long “What if?” What if our defense hadn’t given up 41 points in the first half? What if we got 1 stop against Iowa State? What if we tried tackling someone against Oklahoma State?
Our defense forced 1 punt in the first. Here are the rest of the Texas Tech offensive possession’s in the first half:
- 5 plays 65 yards Touchdown
- 1 play 71 yards Touchdown
- 7 plays 75 yards Touchdown
- 8 plays 75 yards Touchdown
- 2 plays 81 yards Touchdown
- 6 plays 75 yards Touchdown
- End of half
Gross.
Now it has to be said they the defense played much better in the 2nd half. They held Texas Tech scoreless in the 3rd quarter and made them work for their scores in the 4th. But that’s almost more frustrating than a silver lining at this point. What the hell happened in the first half? One or two broken coverages or missed assignments that result in a touchdown, before seeing your defense lock in and play well is one thing, but look at those scoring drives we gave up in the first half. The Texas Tech offense was playing against air.
Our pass coverage either gets flagged for pass interference or gives up a long completion, EVERY SINGLE TIME. The Texas Tech quarterback put the ball in harms way multiple times with WVU defenders in better positions to make a play on the ball than the receivers, and they all resulted in completions instead of pass breakup, or god forbid an interception for us. Texas Tech got conservative with their play calling in the 3rd quarter and we did a much better job at stopping the run, but then they remembered that we can’t defend the pass and they started scoring again. Game over.
Offense
Listen, we lost this game because of our defense full stop. We scored 48 points on the road in the Big 12. Even after giving up 41 points in the first half our offense did enough to get us a lead in the 2nd half which is pretty amazing. But…
Our offenses inability to produce points when they have the opportunity to put us up by 2 scores reared it’s ugly head again this game. Can someone just tell Rich Rod that we are down by 7 every time he is calling plays?
At the end of the 3rd quarter the WVU defense forced a punt giving the ball back to the offense with a 48-41 lead. We had all the momentum and needed to step on their throat. What did we do?
3 plays -4 yards Punt
The play calls: 1 yard run up the middle, 0 yard run up the middle, 5 yard penalty, Incompletion on 3rd and 14.
Gross.
Our defense forced a field goal on the next Texas Tech possession so the WVU offense gets the ball again in the 4th quarter now with their 2nd chance to go up 2 scores. What did we do?
3 plays 9 yards Punt
The play calls: 1 yard run up the middle, 8 yard pass, 0 yard run up the middle.
Gross.
Texas Tech would score a touchdown on their next possession taking the lead and that would be enough for them to get the win.
I know we are focusing on 2 possessions and basically asking for perfection from the offense and Rich Rod as a play caller, but this has been a trend. As great as the offense has been, they just simply refuse to go up by 2 possessions and I blame the play calling. Michael Hawkins Jr. had thrown the ball great all day when allowed to by Rich. Let him go win the game.
Once Texas Tech took the lead and put us in predictable passing situations, Michael Hawkins did not look great anymore and really struggled to get rid of the ball. To be fair though we are playing into the strength of an extremely talented defense. One that we scored on at will when we kept them guessing, but as soon as we got predictable their front dominated.
Why this one is so frustrating
This is type of win that could have set us up for a really special run to end the season. We came out of the bye week and we played a really good game one offense. We had the lead, and I would even say control of the game in the 4th quarter, and instead of a win and the momentum that comes with it, it’s a loss and we are asking the same story we have for much of the season. Are we wasting one of the best offenses in WVU?
The answer is yes. We can still make bowl eligibility and 7 wins would be good, but the opportunity for anything special to come from this season, just went out the door with that loss.
What are you thoughts on the game? Let me know in the comments!
