PLAYERS TO WATCH
–QB Alan Bowman threw the first two interceptions of his college career, but he didn’t seem bothered by them. He finished with 397 passing yards and two touchdowns against Oklahoma State. He could have easily passed for more than 400, but Texas Tech went to the running game (46 rushes for 259 yards) to control the clock in the second half.
–RB Demarcus Felton spearheaded Texas Tech’s rushing attack as he ran for a career-high 130 yards on 14 carries. He scored a pair of touchdowns, including a 17-yarder that iced the game with 4:29 left. The Red Raiders can potentially rotate up to five running backs, so it’s hard to tell if Felton will be the go-to guy again this week, but it would be hard not to give him a shot to see if he stays hot.
–S Jah’Shawn Johnson played for the first time this season against Oklahoma State. He had preseason shoulder surgery and was finally cleared to play last week. He made a good show of it, finishing with four total tackles and a QB hurry that led to a sack.
–DE Eli Howard made one of the key plays of the contest when he reached out and tripped Cowboys quarterback Taylor Cornelius for an 8-yard loss on the drive after Texas Tech took the lead. Howard finished with four total tackles, 1.5 TFLs and a QBH.
SERIES HISTORY: West Virginia leads Texas Tech 5-2. Texas Tech won the first two contests after the Mountaineers entered the Big 12 in 2012, but West Virginia has won the last four in a row since then.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “We don’t talk too much about last year. The biggest thing we’ve talked about, I think we had 16 penalties for 160 yards. You’re not going to beat anybody doing that. That’s really the only thing we’ve touched on. We’ve got to play a much cleaner game against this team to have a chance.” — Kliff Kingsbury on eliminating mistakes against West Virginia.
