Texts From Texas Tech Game Day
November 9, 2015 by Mike CasazzaWest Virginia’s performance may have had you sweating to some old issues at times Saturday, but the Mountaineers were good enough to win, to end a four-game losing streak and to position themselves to start a winning streak should they take care of matters as a touchdown favorite Saturday against wholly unpredictable Texas. Like, I don’t even know if the Longhorns’ll show up by plane, bus or hot air balloon.
Anyhow, our carefully rehearsed talking point last week was that Texas Tech was going to score and that meant WVU would have to match and, ideally, prevent scores. Well, WVU’s offense did well to answer scores. It didn’t match scores, but it followed three Texas Tech sores with points and succeeded a fourth with that long drive to end the game.
The Red Raiders were not who we thought they were offensively — unless you bought into the steep home/road splits, which I did — and they left with season-low totals for points, passing yardage and total yards. Jakeem Grant, who must have been looking forward to Christmas after seeing what Corey Coleman and Josh Doctson had just done to the Mountaineers, had a 10-yard touchdown on a scramble drill and then four other catches that netted minus-2 yards.
The defense played without a starting cornerback and a reserve safety who was going to have to play more because a reserve safety was starting at cornerback. It did well to slow Grant and the offense, and it can thank sleepy K.J. Dillon for his performance.
“I was up to maybe 1 or 2 in the morning watching him,” Dillon said. “That’s how explosive he was. But I think me doing that helped me get the edge on what he was doing. He wasn’t able to be a big part of the offense.”
Dillon finished with nine tackles, but just one after halftime. That, though, was because Grant did nothing in the second half and finished with five catches for eight yards. Grant was third in the Big 12 and in the top 11 nationally in receptions, receiving yards and receiving yards per game.
“We focused on it,” defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said. “K.J. Dillon, I thought, played a hell of a game from my perspective standing over on the sideline. K.J. drew him about 90 percent of the time.”
It’s as good a reason as any the Mountaineers (4-4 overall, 1-4 Big 12) ended a four-game losing streak. They’d allowed three 100-yard receivers in four conference games, and Baylor’s Corey Coleman and TCU’s Josh Doctson combined for 21 catches, 382 yards and five scores in the previous two games.
Grant had just set a career highs with 13 catches for 178 yards against Oklahoma State, but matched a season-low for receptions and established a career-low in receiving yardage.
“I wouldn’t have guessed those stats for him,” Mountaineers coach Dana Holorsen said. “That’s a tribute to our defense.”
Tell me who’s to say after all is done and you’re finally gone you won’t be back again. You can find a way to text today. You don’t have to wait to ’til then. My edits are in [brackets].
11:33:
Your wife’s traveling, my wife’s traveling….and we’re stuck watching a team that’s lost 4 straight. Thanks, Universe.
11:41:
I’m more hungover than Skip Carey after the 95 World Series.
12:03:
Crowd is super thin. Not a good look.
12:06:
Guy beside us just yelled “Go back to TAXAS!!!!” When they ran out. Now he’s cackling at the Matthew McConahey video. He and (my husband) are gonna be be
12:06:
st friends by half time.
12:07:
run silent, run deep, west virginia
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