Getting greedy: 4 takeaways, 2 TDs apiece from Morton, Brooks help Tech roll WVU
Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire talks often about needing to win the "middle eight", those being the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second.
Doing so Saturday made things much easier for the Red Raiders.
By intercepting two passes and scoring a touchdown in a two-minute span bridging halftime, Tech opened up a comfortable lead on West Virginia and went on to a 48-10 victory in a Big 12 game at Jones AT&T Stadium. It was the fourth win in a row by Tech (4-3, 2-2) over West Virginia (3-4, 1-3).
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"If you're on our sideline and it goes to four minutes (left in the half)," McGuire said, "you're going to start hearing everybody yelling. Not just the coaches. The players. One of the players, right when it hit, walks up to me and goes, 'Coach, we're in the middle eight.'
"The big thing today, the difference in the game, was two and three (second and third quarter). That's where we've lost games."
Dadrion Taylor-Demerson's interception in the end zone seven seconds before the break kept West Virginia from cutting into a 17-3 deficit.
Then on the third play of the second half, Tech cornerback Malik Dunlap outwrestled wide receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton for J.T. Daniels' deep throw down the left sideline. Dunlap's interception set up a 55-yard touchdown pass from Behren Morton to Xavier White two plays later, and Tech led 24-3 less than two minutes into the third quarter.
The Red Raiders widened it to 31-3 on their next series, going 91 yards in 12 plays and ending the drive with Loic Fouonji catching a 12-yard TD from Morton.
Taylor-Demerson's interception was his first of the season. Dunlap and fellow senior cornerback Rayshad Williams made the first interceptions of their careers, including Dunlap's time at North Carolina State and Williams' at UCLA. Tech finished with four turnovers gained after starting the day with six, more than only eight teams in the FBS.
"This week, they've been harping on us: We've got to get takeaways," Taylor-Demerson said. "That's the only thing that's been killing us. We've been getting TFLs. We've been getting sacks. We haven't had the interceptions. This is the first (time to achieve) 'take three' on the plan to win."
Morton finished 28 of 45 for 325 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, helping Tech reach 100 plays for the fourth time in seven games. Tech ran 103 plays for 594 yards.
"The pace he played with today really helped us and helps our offense," McGuire said.
Morton played through considerable discomfort. He said he's "lived in" the medical treatment room since suffering an ankle injury two weeks ago at Oklahoma State in his first college start. If that wasn't enough, he had an upset stomach Friday night and threw up Saturday morning, which he attributed to something he ate.
"He was a little bit dinged up this game," Taylor-Demerson said, "but it shows the heart he has."
Donovan Smith replaced Morton to start a series with 10:21 to go. He led a 14-play, 84-yard march and ended with a 2-yard TD pass to Brady Boyd, which was the Minnesota transfer's first career TD.
White has picked up the slack in the absence of Myles Price. The Red Raiders' most experienced receiver suffered an ankle injury in the second half of the Oct. 1 game at Kansas State. Since halftime of that game, in the 2 1/2 games since, White has 25 receptions for 321 yards and TDs in three consecutive games.
That included eight catches for 139 yards Saturday. The senior from Monterey set a career high in receiving yards for the second time in three games.
White's TD came with him lined up in a four-receiver bunch set to the left. He caught Morton's pass at the WVU 38-yard line, dodged the first defender, cut toward the middle and outran the pursuit.
Trey Wolff made two field goals, one from 46 yards that gave Tech a 17-3 lead and a 26-yarder that made it 41-10 early in the fourth quarter.
Tech got control of the game right from the start, sandwiching two drives for touchdowns around a three-and-out from the defense. Tahj Brooks touchdown runs of 19 yards and 1 yard made it 14-0 at the 8:35 mark in the first quarter. Brooks finished with a season-high 107 yards on 17 carries, and SaRodorick Thompson had 59 yards and a touchdown on 15 attempts.
Tech converted a fourth-and-4 on the first scoring drive with a 6-yard pass from Morton to tight end Mason Tharp. The Red Raiders converted three fourth downs on the second scoring series: Morton sneaking for 4 yards on fourth-and-1 from the Tech 39; throwing for 8 yards to White on fourth-and-4 from the WVU 34; and hitting Tharp for 19 yards on fourth-and-4 from the WVU 20.
Tharp caught the ball at the 14 and dragged three defenders all the way down to the 1, setting up Brooks' second TD on the next play.
The Red Raiders were 6 for 6 on fourth down before the Mountaineers sacked Morton on fourth-and-1 from the WVU 22 in the second quarter.
Going into Saturday, only Texas-El Paso and Central Michigan within the FBS — with 15 apiece — had more fourth-down conversions than Texas Tech's 14. The Red Raiders finished 6 for 7 in that department.
WVU advanced from its own 20 to the Tech 24 in the last 1:32 of the first half only to be foiled when Taylor-Demerson picked off Daniels' pass into the end zone for wide receiver Reese Smith. The Tech safety leaped for the throw, grabbed the ball with both hands, and his hip came down in bounds.
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Defensive backs coach Marcel Yates recognized and communicated what was coming before the snap.
"It looked like they were on the same page, just from film study," McGuire said. "Rabbit (Taylor-Demerson) almost ran the route and intercepted the ball, which was huge for us."
Quick hits
Monroe Mills, who started each of the first six Texas Tech games at right tackle, missed the game with a strained medial collateral ligament he suffered early in Tuesday's practice. Matt Keeler got "two really good days" of preparation, McGuire said, and made his first career start in Mills' place. Keeler is a third-year sophomore from LaGrange Park, Illinois, who transferred to Tech after spending the fall 2020 semester at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College.
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Mills, McGuire said, "felt like he could've gone today, but we didn't want to take that chance." ...
McGuire said he also expects IR Myles Price (ankle), WR J.J. Sparkman (thumb), QB Tyler Shough (clavicle) and S Tyler Owens to be available to play in the next game, at 6:30 p.m. Saturday against Baylor.
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Shough suited up for the first time since he got hurt in the first quarter of the season opener. Shough went through pre-game warmup, but didn't play. ...
West Virginia finished with a season-low 282 yards. The Mountaineers had 73 yards rushing, their second-lowest output of the season. They had five individual 100-yard rushing performances in the first six games.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Behren Morton, Tahj Brooks account for 2 TDs apiece as Texas Tech rolls West Virginia
