LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Tahj Brooks ran for a season-high 188 yards and three touchdowns in the final home game for Texas Tech’s all-time leading rusher, and the Red Raiders rolled to a 52-15 victory over West Virginia on Saturday.
Texas Tech (8-4, 6-3 Big 12) briefly kept alive faint hopes for a bid in the Big 12 championship game before getting eliminated a few hours later by Arizona State’s victory over Arizona.
The Red Raiders, who have eight regular-season wins for the first time since 2009 under the late Mike Leach, scored at 50 points for the second week in a row in a resounding response to consecutive home losses.
“It was a big deal for us to play well at home,” coach Joey McGuire said. “Our last two home games, we’ve had incredible crowds that had great energy, that had our backs and we played really, really bad. We were embarrassed.”
Garrett Greene threw an interception and lost a fumble on Terrell Tilmon’s strip sack in the final three minutes of the first half as the Mountaineers (6-6, 5-4) raised more questions about the future of coach Neal Brown by falling behind 35-3 before the break.
“I don’t think that the first half of football necessarily defines who our players are, who we are as individuals, or who we are as a team,” Brown said. “But we’re not pleased with that.”
Behren Morton threw for 359 yards and two touchdowns, including a 31-yarder to Caleb Douglas to put Texas Tech in front 42-3 early in the second half. Josh Kelly had 150 yards receiving.
McGuire, who will have his third winning record in three seasons, called timeout with 5:57 remaining and his team leading 45-15 to take Brooks out of the game. Brooks was mobbed by teammates as the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
Brooks ran for at least 100 yards in all 11 regular-season games he played, breaking the single-season school record of 10 he shared with Byron Hanspard and Bam Morris.
Brooks pushed his career total to 4,557 yards in his first home game since breaking Hanspard’s 1996 school record of 4,219 yards two weeks ago at Jones AT&T Stadium.
“I feel like my legacy is probably being best running back Texas Tech has ever had, in my opinion,” Brooks said. “The only thing I probably haven’t done here is win the Doak Walker (Award). I feel like a lot of people can say I got misjudged on that award, and I feel like I did things that other running backs in the country didn’t do.”
Two of Brooks’ TDs came on 2-yard runs from direct snaps, and the other was a 37-yarder when he stumbled on a cut but stayed on his feet and bounced off defensive back Ty French. Brooks has 17 TDs rushing this season and 45 for his career. Brooks set up one of his short TDs with a 30-yard catch.
Jahiem White ran for 124 yards with a spinning 21-yard touchdown for West Virginia, and Greene had a 15-yard scoring toss to Rodney Gallagher III. Greene threw two picks.
The takeaway
West Virginia: A perfect season on the road in the Big 12 ended with a thud. The Mountaineers were 3-0 away from home in conference before allowing 29 second-quarter points followed by another TD just 2:12 into the third.
Texas Tech: Tight end Jalin Conyers, one of Brooks’ fellow seniors playing his final home game, made up a for a dropped pass in the end zone with a juggling, diving catch for 18 yards to set up Morton’s 1-yard scoring toss to Mason Tharp. Conyers, an Arizona State transfer, also had a 2-point conversion run on a swinging gate play from the PAT unit.
Up next
Both teams are eligible for bowl games.
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