Arizona State running back Demarius Robinson (23) tries to get away from Arizona State safety Myles Rowser (4) during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

West Virginia coaches and players have a lot to do during the week. They have to correct the past and then quickly prepare for the future. There are only a couple of days to do so. This is similar for journalists. Sunday and Monday are for looking at what happened in the past, and then you quickly have to move on to the game ahead.

You can look at stats, box scores and watch some highlights, but you don’t get the nitty-gritty details that a full-time beat writer would.

So, we reached out to the Texas Tech football beat writer for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal to get the finer details on the Red Raiders before their matchup with WVU. Here is what beat reporter Nathan Giese had to say about Texas Tech:

Strengths

It starts with the pass rush. When you got David Bailey, he’s leading the nation in sacks right now, 12.5, and you got Romello Height coming at you on the other side. That just opens up the defense in general.

When you have those two coming at you, you have big boys in the middle with Lee Hunter, A.J. Holmes, Jr, clogging up those rushing lanes. That’s kind of allowed the linebackers like Jacob Rodriguez to kind of feast.

You’re probably gonna see a lot of the running back duo of Cam Dickey and J’Koby Williams. That just kind of opens up their offense more once they can get that running game going.

Dickey went into their open date leading the conference in rushing. He doesn’t have it anymore, because a couple of guys went past him last week, but he would put Texas Tech to have three 1,000-yard rushers in consecutive years for the first time in program history. That’s something the Red Raiders are going to try to get done this week.

Williams is a threat out of the backfield in rushing and passing, and he’s a utility guy on special teams, taking punt returns. He’s gonna be involved this week.

Weakness

There’s not really a weakness that really stands out. In certain games, one thing looks weaker than the other, but in general, they’re a pretty sound team.

If you’re gonna point to a weakness, it’s consistency in the passing game, because the receivers have dropped a lot of passes lately. It got better against UCF, but I think that’s one area they really need to kind of make sure is better by this point of the season, as they kind of progress forward.

Behren Morton’s health is always kind of a talking point. His leg has been bugging him since the opener. He got his shoulder fixed this offseason. That’s why he missed spring ball.

Morton just can’t catch a break. He’s always dealing with something, but he’s been solid when he’s been on the field. It’s just about kind of managing that and making sure he doesn’t take a lot of hits, which should open up their ground game a little bit more.

Feeling pressure

Texas Tech knows what’s at stake. It’s kind of the same mentality that they’ve had all year, where the Red Raiders know as long as they take care of themselves, Texas Tech should be able to out-talent opponents every week. The Red Raiders kind of rely on talent, leaning into the strength of their defense, which has carried them all year.

The offense has just taken dividends because the defense is so strong. That’s going to be the focus: how do you operate against the defense that has really, even in the loss, hasn’t really been penetrated too much.