Like that, the last week of the college football regular season is here. Remember how excited we all were when it was week one of the Big 12 season? Now, the holiday season has arrived and the Red Raiders are closing out the 2024 campaign in front of their home fans. They are still in the jumbled mess to make it into the Big 12 conference championship game, but reality says that should not be the expectation. This Texas Tech Week 14 game against West Virginia presents a chance for this team to close out 2024 with a “Boom Boom Pow.”
Senior Day Starts Early
For the first time this season, Texas Tech has a home Big 12 game kickoff at 11:00 am local time. It is only the second 11:00 am kickoff they have had all season (Ohio State could only dream of such few early window games). Of course, Red Raider fans can only hope this game goes just like their only other early kickoff of 2024. The Red Raiders hosted North Texas for a massive score of 66-21.
With the game serving as senior day, the Red Raiders will want to send their 20-plus seniors out on a good note. That group is headlined by running back Tahj Brooks, Caleb Rogers, Josh Kelly, Mason Tharp, and defensive back Bralyn Lux. In addition to celebrating the seniors, Texas Tech has a chance to set an attendance record. The Red Raiders need at least 54,969 fans on hand on Saturday to break the single-season record of 58,934 for average attendance, set over six games in 2014. So far in 2024, Texas Tech is averaging 59,596 fans through its six home games of the season. This ranks 30th nationally and second in the Big 12 Conference behind BYU.
Brooks Capping Off Historic Season
In addition to passing Byron Hanspard’s career rushing mark in school history, Brooks has hit some remarkable achievements. Over his last 21 games, he has registered 18 different 100-yard games. In the three games he has not eclipsed 100 yards during that span, he still rushed for at least 95 yards in those games. This is now the longest streak for a FBS player since 1996. Brooks has 10, 100-yard games this year. This matches the Texas Tech single-season record previously set by Hanspard (1996) and Byron Morris (1993). On top of that, Brooks is the only Big 12 player in history and one of 19 FBS players since 1956 to record 4,000 rushing yards and at least 100 receptions in a career. He will need another performance like last week against Oklahoma State to help secure a victory in Lubbock.
Defenses are in for Long Day
Neither the Red Raiders nor the Mountaineers possess a great defense. Both of these teams rank near the bottom in the FBS in pass defense. West Virginia ranks 122nd while Texas Tech is 132nd. This should be a matchup that Texas Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley’s offense should be able to exploit. The Red Raiders are better against the run, but still only rank 66th in rush defense. That plays into what West Virginia will want to do with the ball. Their overall offense is not one of the elite units in the Big 12. It ranks 11th in the Big 12, scoring 29.7 points per game, and 12th with 392.1 yards per game. However, they rank 22nd nationally in rushing offense, averaging 197.5 yards.
Overall, the Mountaineers are 32-12 in the Neal Brown era when rushing for at least 100 yards. Specifically to 2024, outside of their win over Cincinnati which was aided a ton by Bearcat turnovers, West Virginia has had no less than 148 rushing yards in wins over Power Four opponents this season. This Texas Tech week 14 matchup will have the Red Raiders facing one of the most disciplined teams in the country. The Mountaineers are ranked fourth nationally for fewest penalty yards per game and sixth in fewest penalties.
Texas Tech Week 14 Prediction
It has been a season full of twists and turns for the Red Raiders. Mainly it has been games filled with lots of offense, sometimes by only the opponent of the Red Raiders. We can save the “Is it a successful season or not” talk for when the season is actually finished. But, for now, a win to close out this season shows a third consecutive year of this program showing progress. We are talking about (including bowl games) 177 games of football without a stretch in a single season that ended at least 8-4. A victory over West Virginia would also give Texas Tech six conference wins for only the third time as a Big 12 member (Texas Tech is wrapping up its 29th season in the Big 12).
West Virginia is traveling over 1,400 miles to play a game two days after Thanksgiving. The Mountaineers are in the midst of another very mediocre season under Brown. West Virginia will have very little gold and blue support in Jones AT&T Stadium. McGuire has demonstrated that he will have his team ready to go to close out the season. They have made it clear that getting to eight wins is very important to them. The defense will still allow the Mountaineers to move the ball and score plenty, but the offense will carry the day to close out the regular season on a high note.
Texas Tech 49, West Virginia 38
