Texas Tech’s offense will have a new look this week and for the foreseeable future after Tyler Shough’s collarbone injury, and the Red Raiders will put the ball in the hands of a tested veteran in Henry Colombi.

Offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie spoke to the media Tuesday about Colombi being ready when his moment came and answering the call when the Red Raiders needed him.

“That’s one thing about being the backup – on the fly you just jump in there,” Cumbie said. “You don’t have all week as the starter to think about the game and the gameplan.”

Cumbie said that Colombi is a savvy, veteran player who has played a lot of football and has started games in the Big 12 Conference.

“He doesn’t get rattled and knows who he is as a player and where to go with the football,” Cumbie said. “I feel our guys have a lot of confidence in him, and I do as well. I was pleased with how he played, and he’s going to have to be smart with the football again this Saturday.”

Cumbie said he doesn’t see a need to change up play-calling with Colombi in place of Shough.

“Most of the offense is still going to be there,” he said.

He also talked about Colombi having “sneaky speed” and referenced his 17-yard rush on third-and-16 against Texas and complimented Colombi’s ability to make quick decisions, getting the football out of his hand and being accurate with his passes.

Cumbie said the mentality of the offense is that it fell short in the last game because the Red Raiders didn’t score enough points.

“That never crosses your mind,” he said. “We should have scored one more point. Whatever the score is, we didn’t score enough points.”

Cumbie said the offense never got in a true rhythm or played complimentary football with the defense last weekend. Cumbie said the offense had a great practice Tuesday and his message to the group is that there is a lot of season left with eight games remaining.

Cumbie said the West Virginia defense doesn’t give up anything easily and does a great job of defending the end zone. He pointed out the West Virginia defensive front, and how active and disruptive it can be.

“When you have a front four that’s as disruptive as they are, you can do a lot with your coverage on the back end,” he said. “They’re very physical, so once you get down in the red zone, it gets difficult with the front four they have.”

Cumbie said he was impressed with the way the Mountaineer defense played against Oklahoma.

“Their defensive front, they’re so active,” he said. “Their interior d-lineman are slanting and moving, harassing the quarterback. Their linebackers have played a lot of football and some of those guys in the secondary feel like they’ve been there forever. That’s experience.”

Cumbie said WVU defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley does a great job putting the right guys in the right position.

“They are very unpredictable. They are not a defense that is going to continually line up in the same thing in terms of what they do coverage-wise.”

Cumbie said backup quarterback Donovan Smith has taken some reps with the first unit, but is running with the second team in practice, as is Behren Morton. Cumbie would not divulge if there would be any goal-line or short-yardage packages featuring Smith. He said the coaches liked Smith for the particular play he scored a touchdown on last weekend – a designed quarterback run to the left side for a touchdown.

Cumbie complimented receiver Kaylon Geiger for his great feet, route running and top end speed.

“We’ve got to continue to find him over the top,” Cumbie said. “Those are big plays for us and really sparked us both weeks.”