Doege reverses roles in Raiders’ upset
LUBBOCK— The matchup between Texas Tech andNo. 5 West Virginia featured a quarterback who put up cartoonish numbers, throwing for six touchdowns and 499 yards.
And that quarterback’s name was Seth Doege.
Doege led Texas Tech’s offense while the Red Raiders’ defense shut down Heisman Trophy hopeful Geno Smith, upsetting theMountaineers 49- 14 on Saturday.
Red Raider fans stormed the field after the win, the most lopsided Texas Tech victory ever over a team ranked in the top five.
Smith completed 29 of 55 passes for 275 yards but couldn’t get the ball in the end zone.
Scoring early, often
The Red Raiders offense had no such trouble.
“When you don’t have a pass rush, it’s a lot easier to make your reads,” said Doege, who threw touchdown passes of 39, 19, 16, 2, 29 and 7 yards. He completed 32 of 42 passes, and the six touchdowns matched his career- high. DarrinMoore caught three touchdown passes, which tied his careerhigh.
Texas Tech ( 5- 1, 2- 1) had 18 plays of 15 yards or more, including a 61- yard pass to Jace Amaro and a 53- yard touchdown run by SaDale Foster.
TheMountaineers ( 5- 1, 2- 1) last week converted all five fourth- down tries in their 48- 45 win at Texas, but against the Red Raiders they made just one of six.
“Those guys did a great job of just attacking us,” Smith said. “They attacked us the entire game.”
The win for Texas Tech was the second over a top 10 team in as many seasons. The Red Raiders beat then- No. 3 Oklahoma 41- 38 to break the Sooners’ 39- game win streak in Norman last year.
TheMountaineers fell short of their scoring average ( 52) by 38 points and got just one touchdown in the second half. Even that came when the game was already out of reach.
TheMountaineers had the third- worst pass defense coming into the game ( 336 yards) and didn’t do anything to improve on that.
“It was a poor performance defensively ... and it’s just a team loss,” Mountaineers coach Dana Holgorsen said. “They outplayed us. They outcoached us. On all three sides of the ball, they did better than we did.”
The Red Raiders, meanwhile, started fast and kept theMountaineers off balance.
By the time it was all over, the Red Raiders had 168 rushing yards on 29 carries and passed the ball 43 times.
A different defense
Doege said the game showed how well the Red Raiders can play and how much a good defense can help.
“It’s totally different from last year,” said Doege, who last season saw the Red Raiders’ defense finish near the bottom of the nation in several categories.
“If we got down or whatever the case may be, wemight have pressed a little bit. But we know that our defense is playing at a high level right now, and I was just blown away by their performance today.”