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LUBBOCK, Texas -- The last time West Virginia ran onto the field at Jones AT&T Stadium with a Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback, it was Texas Tech signalcaller Seth Doege who stole the show in a 49-14 victory by the host Red Raiders.
That was not be the case on Saturday as redshirt senior Will Grier looked like a front-runner for college football's most prestigious award as the North Carolina native made good on 21of his 29 first half passes for 278 yards and a trio of touchdowns as the unbeaten Mountaineers had their way during the first 30 minutes, going into the locker room at the intermission with a 35-10 advantage.
"Well, so far we are doing a good job of that," West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said as he was heading toward the break. "But, we don't care what that scoreboard says we are going to go in and make some adjustments and come out for the second half.
"They (Texas Tech) can do that (score a lot of points) too."
And, the veteran leader of the Mountaineers was right as TTU came out behind backup quarterback Jett Duffey, who replaced injured freshman Alan Bowman, to score 17 straight and cut WVU's lead to 35-27.
Meanwhile a Mountaineers offense that looked like the best in the nation in the first 15 minutes could do nothing right and when it did shot itself in the foot with penalties to kill drives and allowed their hosts to continue to pressure on a defense which lost cornerback Josh Norwood on a targeting call in the third quarter and was showing signs of another collapse like the one it suffered at Baylor a year ago.
Then, it happened.
Keith Washington stepped in front of a Duffey pass in the flat at the WVU 49 and raced untouched to the end zone for a 51-yard score -- WVU's only points of the second half.
"A lot of it was just a real good read," WVU's Reese Donahue explained. "He made a play and it saved us all today."
Tech scored one more time on a one-yard run by Ta'Zhawn Henry and Clayton Hatfield's PAT brought the hosts back to within eight, 42-34, with 38 ticks left on the clock.
But, Hatfield's onside kick attempt sailed out of bounds and Grier and Company went into the victory formation for the game's final play.
"At the end of the day that's what you've got to remember," Holgorsen said about the win. "You go in at the half up 25 points and you've knocked their quarterback out. So, it's only natural that you relax.
"We warned the kids at the half that you can't relax because this is Big 12 football and Texas Tech isn't the kind of team that is going to stop playing just because they are down 25."
Washington's pick was the third of the day for the defense -- sophomore Kenny Robinson came away with two in the first half.
"We were in a 3-deep concept," safeties coach Matt Caponi said.
"(Washington) made a heckuva play to go up and get it. Then made it into the end zone."
Grier, who came into the game with 14 touchdown throws, added three more and threw for 370 yards on 27-of-41 passing, but was held under 100 yards for a half for the first time in 2018.
Junior Marcus Simms continued his breakout season with nine catches for 138 yards and one touchdown while senior Gary Jennings Jr. contributed seven catches for 70 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
"Pretty much it was just me reading my keys," Robinson said.
"They run a lot of trickery, so you've got to line up and be ready to play. We knew they weren't going to give up, so we just had to come out and continue to make plays."