Rapid Takeaways From WVU's Heartbreaking Shootout Loss to Texas Tech

Weird things happen late at night, and that's exactly how this one played out between West Virginia and Texas Tech. The Mountaineers unfortunately couldn't make enough plays in the last eight minutes of the game, ultimately falling by a 53-48 score.

Here are a few thoughts from this one.

Is it 2012?

There were over 600 yards combined in total offense just a couple of minutes into the second quarter. Explosive plays and touchdowns were happening at a rate that's even abnormal for the old Big 12. Remember that 70-63 game against Baylor fourteen years ago? That's what this one felt like in the early going. Just a ping-pong effect of back-and-forth quick scores. The 892 yards of offense in the first 30 minutes were the most in a Big 12 game since 2004.

Mike Hawkins Jr. is a top-five QB in college football

Each week, Hawkins continues to prove he's one of the best quarterbacks in the country, and after tonight's performance, I think it's safe to say he's firmly in the top tier. I don't care what the record is or what the stats say; he is so valuable to this team and there aren't many in the nation as dynamic as him. His second rushing touchdown of the night broke Pat White's single-season record for most rushing scores by a West Virginia quarterback. Talk about being in elite company.

Defense came up big, just too late

Rich Rod told the ESPN sideline reporter that the first-half performance was "embarrassing" and rightfully so. Guys were running wide open all over the place, and in the run game, poor angles were taken, which led to several explosives on the ground.

Surprisingly, Zac Alley's crew was able to string together four consecutive stops to begin the second half before giving up a field goal and a touchdown. Unfortunately, some of that stuff crept up late with a defensive pass interference that helped extend a drive, which ended in points, and then on 4th & 3, Castellanos had all day to throw and heaved up a prayer that was caught. Just about every 50/50 ball went to Tech.

The late game-changing plays

WVU had the lead and the ball on a 3rd-and-short and got stuffed trying to run it up the middle. It was sniffed out from the jump and had no shot. That gave Tech some added juice and then turned it into a lead. As mentioned above, they gave up a 4th & 3 deep ball and DPI; both helped Tech to points. This secondary failed to make a play on the ball all night, and that played a big part in the result. Then, when WVU had the ball trailing on 4th down, Nick Krahe got blown up, and Mike Hawkins Jr. had to escape pressure - he needed to throw the ball up, though, to give someone a chance. And then, after the turnover on downs in the red zone, Kevin Brown got beat off the edge, leading to a safety to seal the deal.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/westvirginia as Rapid Takeaways From WVU's Heartbreaking Shootout Loss to Texas Tech.