Red Raiders host West Virginia for home finale

WEST VIRGINIA AT TEXAS TECH
Lubbock, Texas | Jones AT&T Stadium
Nov. 30, 2024
FS1 | 11 a.m. CT

GAME LINKS

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech (7-4, 5-3 Big 12) will look to secure its first eight-win regular season in more than a decade on Saturday when hosting West Virginia (6-5, 5-3 Big 12) on Senior Day at Jones AT&T Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 11 a.m. Prior to kickoff, the Red Raiders will recognize 20-plus seniors, including several mainstays in Texas Tech's all-time leading rusher Tahj Brooks, offensive lineman Caleb Rogers, defensive back Joseph Plunk, long snapper Jackson Knotts and tight end Mason Tharp, among others.

Television coverage will be provided by FS1 with Eric Collins behind the mic alongside Spencer Tillman serving as analyst. In addition to local television providers, fans can access the game from their mobile or streaming device by using the FOX Sports app.

Texas Tech Sports Network will also broadcast the game over 46 affiliates throughout the state of Texas and New Mexico as Brian Jensen will have the call alongside analyst John Harris and sideline reporter Chris Level. The radio broadcast can also be heard on SiriusXM channel 138 or 199, as well as on the Varsity app.

ONE HOME GAME LEFT IN 2024; ATTENDANCE RECORD IN SIGHT

Tickets remain available for Saturday's regular-season finale; tickets for the West Virginia game can be purchased online at TexasTech.com or by speaking to a ticket sales representative at 806-742-TECH.
Texas Tech will need at least 54,969 fans on hand on Saturday against West Virginia to break the single-season record of 58,934 for average attendance. The record was set over six games in 2014. In 2024, Texas Tech is averaging 59,596 fans through its first six home games of the season, which ranks 30th nationally and second in the Big 12 Conference behind only BYU.
Texas Tech enters its home finale on Saturday having announced four sellout crowds of 60,229 this season – ACU (Aug. 31), Cincinnati (Sept. 28), Baylor (Oct. 19) and Colorado (Nov. 9). Its other two home games this season were near-capacity crowds on Sept. 14 versus North Texas at 11 a.m. (57,865) and Sept. 21 at 2:30 p.m. versus Arizona State (58,795).

MORTON IN MIDST OF CAREER YEAR

Texas Tech is 13-4 since the start of the 2023 season in games Behren Morton starts and finishes, which includes an 8-3 mark at home. Morton, who took over as QB1 in the fifth game of the 2023 season, has finished with at least a 60 percent completion percentage in all but three of those 13 wins and was above 70 percent in five different victories against Baylor (73.1), TCU (77.8) and Kansas (76.0) a year ago and versus ACU (71.4) and North Texas (79.0) this season.
Morton, who entered the offseason as Texas Tech's starting quarterback for the first time in his career, is in the midst of his best season as a Red Raider as his 2,976 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns and 137.8 efficiency rating are all career highs.
Morton passed Davis Webb (2013-15) for 10th all-time in career passing yards at Oklahoma State as he now has 5,850 yards through the air over 32 games as a Red Raider. He needs 528 passing yards against West Virginia and Texas Tech's bowl opponent to match B.J. Symons (2000-0) for ninth all-time in program history.

BROOKS CONTINUES TO BE MR. CONSISTENT

Brooks has registered 18 different 100-yard games over his last 21 outings dating back to the 2023 season. In the three games he has not eclipsed 100 yards during that span, he recorded at least 95 yards in each contest, which is now the longest streak for a FBS player since 1996.
His 10 different 100-yard games this year match the Texas Tech single-season record of 10 that was previously set by both Byron Hanspard (1996) and Byron Morris (1993).
Brooks remains one of two players in the country to rush for at least 100 yards in every game he's played this season (min. 7 games) and the only one to do so from a power conference.
Brooks continued to prove why he's one of the top players in college football last time out at Oklahoma State, setting a career-high for all-purpose yards with 198 along with four touchdowns in Texas Tech's win at Oklahoma State.
The consistency for Brooks has him sixth in the FBS with 131.7 rushing yards per game and 148.1 all-purpose yards a contest.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

1: Tahj Brooks is the lone 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 caught a career-high nine passes in the win at Oklahoma State.
6: Of the 18 takeaways created by Texas Tech this season, Jacob Rodriguez has had his hand in six of those after he recovered a fumble for a key touchdown and intercepted a pass last weekend at Oklahoma State.
135: This weekend's matchup places two of the nation's most-aggressive teams against each other as Texas Tech (71) and West Virginia (64) have combined for 64 fourth-down conversions since 2022 alone.

WHAT A WIN WOULD DO THIS WEEKEND...

With a victory over West Virginia this weekend, Texas Tech would finish with eight regular-season wins for the first time since 2009. A victory afterward in a bowl game would also mark Texas Tech's first nine-win season since that same 2009 campaign.
Likewise, a victory over West Virginia would also give Texas Tech six conference wins for only the third time as a Big 12 member. The Red Raiders were 6-2 in league play in 2005 and then 7-1 in 2008 with both seasons resulting in trips to the Cotton Bowl.
When the Red Raiders reach their bowl game, Texas Tech will be looking to secure a win for a fourth-consecutive season for the first time in school history. The Red Raiders have won four straight bowl games once in their history (2009-13) but never in consecutive seasons.
Texas Tech's win at Oklahoma State solidified a 3-2 road record this season with all three wins coming in Big 12 play. The Red Raiders had not won three or more true road games in a season previously since 2008.

INSIDE THE WEST VIRGINIA SERIES

Texas Tech and West Virginia will meet for the 14th time Saturday and the 13th time as Big 12 Conference members in a back-and-forth series that has West Virginia with a slight 7-6 all-time lead. The series is tied at 6-6 since West Virginia joined the Big 12 prior to the 2012 season.
West Virginia snapped a four-game losing streak to the Red Raiders a year ago with a 20-13 victory in Morgantown to open Big 12 play for both teams. It was previously the longest winning streak all-time in the series for the Red Raiders, who lost then-starting quarterback Tyler Shough for the season in the first quarter in the loss. His replacement in Behren Morton was also injured on his first drive leading this offense, which lingered for the remainder of the season. The Red Raiders were stopped at the West Virginia 11-yard line on their final drive to try to tie the game in the final minutes.
Texas Tech has protected Jones AT&T Stadium in each of West Virginia's last two visits to Lubbock as the Red Raiders topped the Mountaineers, 34-27, in 2020 and then 48-10 in 2022. West Virginia had won three straight in Lubbock until Texas Tech's victory in 2020 as the Red Raiders' only other home win in the series came via a 49-14 rout of the then No. 4 Mountaineers in 2012. The Red Raiders are 3-3 overall at home all-time in the series versus West Virginia.
The only other meeting between the two schools outside the Big 12 era came in the 1938 Sun Bowl where West Virginia edged the Red Raiders, 7-6, in front of 12,000 fans in El Paso. It was the first of now 41 bowl appearances for the Red Raiders, who rank among the top 25 teams all-time in postseason trips.

TEXAS TECH-WEST VIRGINIA CONNECTIONS

Texas Tech and West Virginia have several staff members with connections to the other university, none possibly more notable than Mountaineers head coach Neal Brown, who was the Red Raiders' offensive coordinator for all three seasons (2010-12) of Tommy Tuberville's tenure. The Red Raiders won two bowl games during Brown's tenure at the 2010 TicketCity Bowl and the 2012 Meineke Car Care Texas Bowl before he departed for a similar position at Kentucky.
Brown has two other members of his staff who previously worked at Texas Tech as assistant head coach and offensive line coach Matt Moore served as the Red Raiders' offensive line coach from 2007-11, crossing over for two seasons of Brown's tenure, while offensive coordinator Chad Scott was the running backs coach from 2010-12. Moore's tenure overlapped two head coaches in both Mike Leach and Tommy Tuberville.
Moore worked alongside current Texas Tech offensive line coach Clay McGuire during his first stint on the Red Raider staff. McGuire was a graduate assistant during Moore's first season before being promoted to special teams coordinator for the 2007-08 seasons and then running backs coach in 2009.
West Virginia has a Lubbock native on its roster in "spur" linebacker Tyrin Bradley, who is a 2021 graduate of Monterey High School. Bradley ranks fourth on the team with 49 tackles this season, which includes 6.5 tackles for loss. He transferred to West Virginia after two seasons at Abilene Christian.

SOUTH END ZONE BUILDING MAKES GRAND DEBUT

Texas Tech officially opened the South End Zone Building to Jones AT&T Stadium, a $242 million project that began following the 2022 season finale on Nov. 26, 2022.
The $242 million project will mark the largest contiguous football facility in the country, as the south end zone building will connect, via a skybridge, to the Womble Football Center and the Sports Performance Center, which opened in 2017 as Texas Tech's indoor football practice facility and indoor track and field venue. Which in total will feature more than 340,000 combined square feet of space.
The Red Raiders now enter Jones AT&T Stadium each gameday through the Gary Petersen Field Club, a 12,000-square-foot premium space that is among the first of its kind in college football. It is one of several new premium areas as Texas Tech has added 17 new luxury suites, on the 3rd floor of the South End Zone building, to go along with 500 club and loge box seats and two spacious party decks on the concourse. Texas Tech now boasts 102 premium suites throughout Jones AT&T Stadium to go along with more than 2,500 club and loge box seat options.
Joey McGuire and his staff moved into their new coaches' offices on the second floor of the south end zone building in July, giving them a stunning view overlooking Cody Campbell Field at Jones AT&T Stadium. The office location places McGuire and his staff steps from each position room and the sky bridge connected to the Womble Football Center where offensive and defensive breakout rooms will be located as well as a team meeting space and a state-of-the-art walkthrough area on the second level.
Texas Tech started to phase in the opening of the Womble Football Center side of the project in mid-November, having its first workout in the new strength and conditioning center on Nov. 17. The two-story building will maintain its football strength and conditioning area, as well as the sports medicine and equipment areas on the main level as part of the new layout. The Red Raiders' main locker room will also be located in the Womble Football Center, which includes space for 120-plus athletes and modern primary designs from Hollman that are fully ventilated and contain USB charging ports and DreamSeat technology for every player.

- TECH -

Red Raiders host West Virginia for home finale

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tahj Brooks

Jackson Knotts

Behren Morton

Joseph Plunk

Jacob Rodriguez

Caleb Rogers

Mason Tharp

Red Raiders host West Virginia for home finale

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tahj Brooks

Jackson Knotts

Behren Morton

Joseph Plunk

Jacob Rodriguez

Caleb Rogers

Mason Tharp

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