Texas Tech 53, West Virginia 48
Saturday, November 7, 2026
Lubbock, Texas
Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire said Thursday, “Let’s get weird,” referring to the late 8:37 p.m. local kickoff Saturday night in Lubbock. Weird doesn’t do justice to the Red Raiders’ 53-48 victory.
It started fast with Thomas Castellanos hitting Terrance Carter Jr. for a 30-yard touchdown on Tech’s first possession, and West Virginia answered with an Amari Latimer run and a field goal. Then J’Koby Williams took a handoff 75 yards to the house, and Michael Hawkins Jr. answered with a three-yard score just before the quarter ended. West Virginia led 17-14 after one, and flashbacks of 2016 Tech games started to emerge for fans in Lubbock who remembered optional defense.
The Red Raiders owned the second quarter. Castellanos and Carter connected again from 29 yards out, and the Mountaineers fired back when Hawkins hit TaRon Francis on a 73-yard bomb. Then Tech took over. Castellanos found Jett Carpenter from a yard out and Kenny Johnson from 38 yards, and Quinten Joyner plunged in from the one just before the break. Tech led 41-27 at halftime, 27 of those points coming in one quarter. You figured that was plenty.
It wasn’t. West Virginia came out of the locker room and ripped off 21 straight in the third. Hawkins scored from two yards out, Cam Cook punched one in, and Hawkins scrambled in from three to hand the Mountaineers a 48-41 lead. By the end of the night, West Virginia had 582 yards, 279 on the ground and five rushing touchdowns, and the Mountaineers never really went quiet until the final quarter.
Then the Tech defense finally showed up. West Virginia didn’t score a point in the fourth. Stone Harrington drilled a 46-yard field goal to make it 48-44, and Castellanos found Johnson from five yards out to put Tech in front. Trey White then sacked Hawkins in his own end zone for the safety that sealed it.
Tech's final tally: 638 total yards, 362 through the air, five touchdown passes from Castellanos, and zero turnovers. The Red Raiders closed on a 12-0 run and now have a clearer path to the Big 12 Championship Game after BYU lost earlier in the day to Utah, 28-20.
Previous Flatland Reports: Tech’s Big 12 title path and tiebreaker scenarios.
Texas Tech by the numbers
Statistics and milestones below are from Texas Tech’s official box score and postgame notes.
Final: Texas Tech 53, West Virginia 48. Quarter scores, Tech: 14, 27, 0, 12; WVU: 17, 10, 21, 0.
Record: Tech improved to 8-1 overall and 5-1 in Big 12 play.
Total offense: Tech 638 yards (362 passing, 276 rushing); West Virginia 582 (303 passing, 279 rushing).
Thomas Castellanos: 18-of-27 passing for 362 yards, five touchdown passes and no interceptions; 102 rushing yards. Tech says he is its first quarterback to run for 100 or more yards in consecutive games.
J’Koby Williams: 160 rushing yards, including a 75-yard touchdown run.
Receiving: Kenny Johnson had 84 yards and two touchdowns; Terrance Carter Jr. had 81 yards and two touchdowns.
Defense: Austin Romaine recorded a career-high 15 tackles; Trey White had two sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss, including the game-sealing safety.
Home winning streak: 14 consecutive victories, a new Texas Tech program record.
Game setting: 60,229 in attendance at Galaxy Stadium; kickoff 8:37 p.m.
Next game: At Oklahoma State on Saturday, November 14.
