Tech ruins WVU upset bid
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Davis Webb threw two touchdown passes and No. 16 Texas Tech scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to beat West Virginia 37-27 Saturday.
In his first road start, Webb completed 36 of 50 passes for 462 yards. He became the first Red Raiders freshman to surpass 400 yards passing in each of his first two starts.
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Texas Tech's Ryan Bustin kicked three field goals and Kenny Williams had a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs, including the go-ahead score with 9:20 left in the game.
The Red Raiders (7-0, 4-0 Big 12) moved into sole possession of first place in the conference.
Dreamius Smith ran for two touchdowns for the Mountaineers (3-4, 1-3), who punted on four straight possessions in the second half to let Texas Tech take over.
Texas Tech's Kliff Kingsbury got a win in his first head-to-head matchup as a coach against West Virginia's Dana Holgorsen.
Kingsbury was the Red Raiders' quarterback from 1999-02. Holgorsen was the team's wide receivers coach from 2000-04 and added offensive coordinator duties from 2005-07. Holgorsen is credited with helping Kingsbury join him on Kevin Sumlin's staff at Houston in 2008.
West Virginia quarterback Clint Trickett, starting his third straight game, continued to be plagued by accuracy troubles and a habit of floating the ball up for grabs downfield. His receivers bailed him out at times and he finished 27-of-43 for 254 yards.
Instead, West Virginia found success in its running game against the Big 12's top rush defense.
West Virginia found the end zone on its first two drives of the second half. Smith followed a block from Charles Sims and slipped through a crowd around left end on a 12-yard scoring run put the Mountaineers ahead 27-16 late in the third quarter.
But West Virginia generated little offense the rest of the game.
Trailing 27-23, Webb found tight end Jace Amaro for a 37-yard completion and Brad Marquez for 16 yards early in the fourth quarter to set up Williams second straight short scoring run.
The outcome was still in doubt until Webb found Amaro with a 10-yard scoring pass with a minute left.
Amaro, who also had a 10-yard TD catch in the first quarter, finished with nine catches for 136 yards -- his sixth straight game with at least eight receptions. Marquez had eight catches for 112 yards.
Texas Tech jumped ahead 13-0 but lost two second-quarter fumbles that allowed the Mountaineers to tie it at halftime.
Webb took two hard hits at the end of an 11-yard run. Linebacker Isaiah Bruce forced the fumble and recovered it at the West Virginia 1.
The Mountaineers then drove the length of the field. Smith had no room to run left, so he cut back around right end and sprinted 38 yards untouched into the end zone.
After Texas Tech's Austin Stewart fumbled away the ensuing kickoff at the 17, West Virginia kicked a short field goal to head into the locker room tied at 13-13.
Texas Tech's Olaoluwa Falemi was flagged three times for pass interference, the final time on a pass that teammate Stewart intercepted at the Red Raiders' 1-yard line early in the third quarter. Three plays later, Trickett threw a 4-yard scoring pass to Sims.
Texas Tech was penalized seven times for 80 yards and settled for field goals three times after driving inside the West Virginia 15.