Texas Tech starts season's second half by hosting WVU

Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire got to spend a lot of time sitting on his back porch watching games last week. The Red Raiders' open date conveniently fell on arguably the most exciting weekend of college football so far this season.

Now it's back to work. Tech, with six games down and at least six to go, starts the second half of the season by hosting West Virginia at 2 p.m. Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium. Both teams are 3-3 with 1-2 records in the Big 12.

Texas Tech has lost three of its past four games, the most recent a 41-31 loss two weeks ago at then-No. 7 Oklahoma Sate. West Virginia has won three of its past four, including a 43-40 home victory last week against Baylor.

"Starting (last) Thursday night with Baylor and West Virginia and flipping back and forth between all the games, it shows what kind of conference we're in that there's no off days and a lot of fun to watch," McGuire said. "It's going to be a fun second half of the season, definitely."

Tech was only the fourth team since 1980 to face five opponents in its first six games of the season that were ranked in The Associated Press Top 25, according to STATS, Inc. The Red Raiders won the home games against Houston and Texas and lost the road games at North Carolina State, Kansas State and Oklahoma State.

Now they get four of their last six at home. The stretch starts with West Virginia, against whom Tech has won three in a row, including a 34-27 victory the last time the Red Raiders hosted the Mountaineers two years ago and a 23-20 game last year decided on a late Jonathan Garibay field goal.

Tech has run at least 100 plays in three of the first six games. Self-scouting during the open week, coaches decided running up-tempo offense is one of the things they do well.

"You're going to see a lot of that on Saturday," McGuire said. "We're going to try to tempo. It helps our offensive line and sometimes keeps personnel on the field that you want to be on the field. So definitely it's going to be a big part of the game plan on Saturday and here on out."

West Virginia coach Neal Brown this summer studied what new Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley did at Western Kentucky. One of the things that stood out, Brown said, was that the style of attack can vary from week to week. The lack of carryover, he said, made preparation difficult.

"What you try to do is prepare for the tempo," Brown said. "That's the hardest piece, is how fast they're playing. So you do that, and then try to get your guys in position, both in the run game and the pass game, to keep the ball in front of you and get them down."

The Mountaineers have the lowest-ranked pass defense in the Big 12, one that's yielded more than 300 yards through the air to three of six opponents. In WVU's past two games, it gave up 336 yards passing to Texas in a 38-20 loss and 421 yards passing to Baylor in a 43-40 victory.

That bodes well for Tech, which boasts the FBS' second-ranked pass offense.

"We've got a do a better job of keeping the ball in front of us and then getting them down when they catch it," Brown said. "We did not do a very good job of that. We've got to do a better job in our pursuit angles once the ball is caught, which we did not do a very good job of, and then we've got to make some plays on the football, which (safety) Aubrey (Burks) did the other night."

West Virginia was opportunistic in beating Baylor. The Mountaineers came up with three turnovers, returned a fumble for a touchdown and returned a blocked extra point for two points.

That doesn't bode well for Tech, whose minus-seven turnover margin is fifth from the bottom in the FBS.

West Virginia's chief disruptor is fifth-year senior defensive tackle Dante Stills, a first-team All-Big 12 honoree last year. Last week, Stills tied a school career record when he reached 47 1/2 tackles for loss. With Stills' reputation, the Mountaineers move him around the defensive line to make him harder for opponents to locate and block.

"Man, he's just a war daddy," McGuire said. "He's a guy that loves the game — you can tell by the way he plays — and he's a very, very powerful guy. So we've got to know where he's at.

"We've got to go a good job protecting the quarterback, knowing where he's at. You can't overdo it, because they've got other guys that can pass rush, but he's definitely a guy that sets a tone for that defense. If you let him take over a game, he can really energize that defense and that team."

College football

Who: Texas Tech vs. West Virginia

When: 2 p.m. Saturday

Where: Jones AT&T Stadium

Records: West Virginia 3-3, 1-2 in the Big 12; Texas Tech 3-3, 1-2

Rankings (AP/coaches poll): Both teams unranked.

Line: Texas Tech by 6. Over-under: 64 1/2 points

TV: Fox Sports 1

Radio: FM 97.3, FM 100.7, FM 106.5, AM 950 in Lubbock. FM 95.7, AM 1440 in Amarillo.

Satellite radio: Sirius 109, XM 200

Follow Along: Follow @AJ_DonWilliams and @cmsilvajr on Twitter for live game updates, with post-game recap and interviews to follow at www.lubbockonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech starts season's second half by hosting WVU