LUBBOCK, Texas — Sophomore Josh Lambert kicked a career-long 55-yard field goal as time expired to lead West Virginia to a 37-34 win over Texas Tech on Saturday.
The Mountaineers (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) rallied from 14 points down in the fourth quarter to beat the Red Raiders (2-4, 0-3), who dropped their fourth straight game, losing their first three conference games for the first time since 1990.
Texas Tech’s Justin Stockton ran for a 69-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter before West Virginia quarterback Clint Trickett threw a 26-yard touchdown to Kevin White and Rushel Shell ran for 1-yard score to tie it at 34 with 2:02 left.
Trickett, the conference leader in passing yards per game, was held to a season-low 301 yards. He completed 28 of 44 passes and had two touchdowns.
Davis Webb completed 28 of 46 for 348 yards and three touchdowns for the Red Raiders.
When Lambert came out to try to win the game with 3 seconds left in regulation, he must not have been thinking back to earlier in the fourth quarter when he missed a 47-yard field goal to the right that would have made it 27-23.
White, a 6-3, 210-pound senior who came into the game leading the nation in receiving yards (765) and receiving yards per game (153), had his sixth straight game of 100-plus yards receiving. He finished with 123 yards on 13 catches.
Texas Tech sophomore Devin Lauderdale had a career-high 112 yards receiving and caught two of Webb’s touchdown passes. Webb also threw his 11th interception of the season.
Penalties were again a problem for Texas Tech, which has been flagged more than any team in the country. The Red Raiders had 12 penalties for 115 yards. Two of those helped the Mountaineers on the drive that tied it at 34-34.
Texas Tech got just a field goal off a third-quarter fumble by a scrambling Trickett to go up 27-13. On the second play of West Virginia’s ensuing possession, Trickett found Jordan Thompson wide open over the middle for a 56-yard touchdown to whittle the Mountaineers’ deficit to 27-20 late in the third quarter.
Texas Tech’s offense looked better in the first half than it has all season, and at 21-10 it was the first time the Red Raiders led at the break since leading Kansas 20-10 on Oct. 5, 2013.
For WVU, it was the fewest points in a first half since scoring just seven against Kansas last November.
