Texas Tech's regular season has come to a close after a 52-15 drubbing of West Virginia to earn an eighth win on the season.
It's a step forward for Texas Tech, the first time that the Red Raiders have won eight games since 2009, and a sign that things are moving in the right direction under head coach Joey McGuire, despite falling short of the goal to play in Arlington for the Big 12 championship.
"It's frustrating that we're not and so we've got to really push ourselves," McGuire said. "The eight wins are really big for us, but we didn't reach our goal, it's not where we want to be, but to be able to do something like this, where you get to eight regular season wins that hadn't been done since the late great Mike Leach. And so we take a lot of pride in that."
The Red Raiders wrapped the season with a celebration, a wire-to-wire dominant performance over the Mountaineers, which allowed for some very exciting moments for Tech's seniors in the win.
Most of which was Tahj Brooks, Tech's all-time leading rusher, who became Tech's first rusher to eclipse 1,500 rushing yards in back-to-back seasons, who received a moment to celebrate the legacy that he will leave in Lubbock.
"We wanted to make sure on that last part, we asked him if he wanted to try to get over 1500 and he did," McGuire said. "I can't thank those guys enough...this the first time in the history of Texas Tech that you've had 1,000 yard receiver and a 1,500 yard rusher."
The Red Raiders' 1,000 yard receiver is Josh Kelly, the transfer from last winter from Washington State, who has helped Tech's offense immensely throughout the season, had his lasting moment as a Red Raider to cap off a great season, the first over 1,000 yards since Antoine Wesley in 2018.
"Josh, as soon as he came off the field, whenever he got it, I gave him a big hug and told him how much I appreciated him," McGuire said. "It was a big deal."
The Red Raiders now await their 42nd bowl selection in program history, which will come after next week's conference championship games, a matchup that will decide Tech's fate, searching for a ninth win for the first time since 2008.
