2015 GAME-BY-GAME RECAPS
MORGANTOWN, W.VA. (Nov. 7, 2015)
West Virginia.........................................31 Texas Tech.................................................. 26 West Virginia broke a four-game losing streak with a 31-26 victory over Texas Tech at Milan Puskar Stadium. Say what you want about West Virginia’s air raid offense, but it was the running game that got it done for the Mountaineers in this victory. The one-two punch of tailbacks Wendell Smallwood and Rushel Shell combined for 274 of West Virginia’s 300 total rushing yards in leading the offensive attack. Smallwood gained 163 yards on 22 carries for a 7.4 average per rush, while Shell complemented the attack with 111 yards on 14 carries and a 7.9 yards per rush average. Smallwood found the end zone once, while Shell scored twice as the two simply dominated the West Virginia offensive output. In what was billed as a high-scoring, offensive game, turned out to be a medium output as the two offenses scored, but also struggled at times. The Mountaineers started the scoring at the 9:45 mark of the first quarter, when Shell turned in a five-yard scoring run. Before the quarter ended, the Red Raiders answered with a 66-yard drive capped by a 10-yard touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes to Jakeem Grant, sending the game into the second stanza tied at 7-7. Once again, the teams traded touchdowns in the second quarter, and as the game continued, it was apparent that this was a Big 12 matchup of two evenly matched teams. West Virginia regained the lead with 13:29 left in the half, as Smallwood found the end zone after a 16-yard run. The score put the exclamation point on a strong 91-yard drive by WVU that took 11 plays and 3:38 off the clock. Texas Tech answered the score with just 35 ticks left, when Reginald Davis hauled in a 9-yard scoring pass from Mahomes. However, instead of going in at the half tied at 14-14, West Virginia took advantage of a short squib kick by Texas Tech and made the Red Raiders pay. Quarterback Skyler Howard hit receiver Ka’Raun White for 17 yards, and Shell followed with rushes of 17 and 14 yards to set up Josh Lambert’s 39yard field goal as time expired for a 17-14 Mountaineer lead at the half. Texas Tech tied the game at the 8:36 mark of the third quarter on Clayton Hatfield’s 34-yarder. The WVU defense was given a short field as Tech gained the ball off of an interception, but held the Red Raiders to a field goal. Before the end of the third, Shell’s five-yard touchdown run ended a 65yard drive and gave the Mountaineers a 24-17 advantage heading into the final quarter. The Red Raiders closed the gap to 24-20 early in the fourth on Hatfield’s second field goal, this one from 27-yards away. Tech gained the ball off a second WVU interception, but the Mountaineer defense came up big again and gave up only three points. Leading 24-20, Howard drove the Mountaineers 59 yards and punched in their final score with a two-yard run to up the advantage to 31-20 with 11:28 left. Texas Tech added a 17-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to DeAndre Washington with 6:47 left, but the Red Raiders never got the ball back. Leading 31-26, West Virginia used the running game mixed with some key passes to hold the ball for the final 6:47 and gain its first Big 12 win of the season. Aside from Smallwood and Shell, the WVU offense got 80 yards receiving from White, while KJ Dillon recorded nine tackles. Washington rushed for 102 yards for Tech, and Micah Awe led the defense with 14 tackles. Final numbers showed West Virginia with 449 yards of total offense to Tech’s 378, as the Mountaineer defense did a solid job on the Red Raider high-powered offense. With the win, WVU evened its mark against Tech at 2-2 in all-time Big 12 play.
WVUFOOTBALL
RushelSHELL
Scoring and Statistical Summary Texas Tech West Virginia
1 7 7
2 7 10
3 3 7
4 9 7
1st
WVU TTU
Rushel Shell 5 rush (Josh Lambert kick) Jakeem Grant 10 pass from Patrick Mahomes (Clayton Hatfield kick)
2nd
WVU WVU WVU
Wendell Smallwood 16 rush (Lambert kick) Reginald Davis 9 pass from Mahomes (Hatfield kick) Lambert 39 FG
3rd
TTU WVU
Hatfield 34 FG Shell 3 rush (Lambert kick)
4th TTU WVU TTU
F 26 31
Hatfield 27 FG Skyler Howard 2 rush (Lambert kick) DeAndre Washington 17 pass from Mahomes (Mahomes rush failed)
TTU WVU
First Downs 23 28 Rushes/Yards 42/179 57/300 Passing Yardage 199 149 Passes 22/36/1 12/24/2 Punts 4/175/43.8 3/95/31.7 Fumbles/Lost 0/0 0/0 Return Yardage 131 69 Penalties/Yards 8/75 4/40 Time of Possession 29:46 30:14
WVU RUSHING: Smallwood 22-163, Shell 14-111; WVU PASSING: Howard 12-23-2149; WVU RECEIVING: White 5-80, Thompson 2-23; WVU TACKLES (TFL/QS): Dillon 9 (1/0), Worley 7, Barber 7, Kwiatkoski 7 (1/0); WVU INTERCEPTIONS: Worley. TTU RUSHING: Washington 21-102, Mahomes 18-73; TTU PASSING: Mahomes 21-341-196; TTU RECEIVING: Washington 6-64, Sadler 3-25, Batson 2-33; TTU TACKLES (TFL/QS): Awe 14 (1/0), Hinton 12 (1/0), Johnson 11, Ward 10 (1/0); TTU INTERCEPTIONS: Fehoko, Nelson. Attendance - 54,932
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