West Virginia @ Texas Tech preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 19, 2013 ) Texas Tech 37, West Virginia 27

Fans should expect plenty of offensive fireworks Saturday afternoon when the West Virginia Mountaineers take their high-powered attack into Jones AT&T Stadium for a date with the Texas Tech Red Raiders. West Virginia evened its conference record with a 33-14 drubbing of Kansas last time out. The Red Raiders may not put up much resistance against the visiting Mountaineers, having surrendered a whopping 139 points during a three-game losing skid.

The Texas Tech secondary has been torched for nine passing touchdowns, and now has the unenviable task of trying to contain Kevin White. The West Virginia receiver is tops in the nation with 765 yards through the air, and had 132 and a touchdown last time out against the Jayhawks. But the Red Raiders have a formidable offensive attack of their own, led by quarterback Davis Webb’s 1,603 yards and 16 touchdowns through the opening five games.

TV: Noon ET, Fox Sports 1. LINE: West Virginia -5.5

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA (3-2, 1-1 Big 12): It didn’t take long for new Mountaineers defensive coordinator Tony Gibson to make an impact. Gibson, who previously served as the secondary coach, took over for Keith Patterson at the end of last season and has already seen his defense produce a shutout against Towson and limit the Jayhawks to 176 total yards last week. “After five games, I’m pretty impressed with where we’re at,” Gibson said earlier this week. “There’s a whole list of really good things going on."

ABOUT TEXAS TECH (2-3, 0-2): Webb’s explosive start has been tempered to some degree by his penchant for interceptions; the sophomore signal-caller has been picked off 10 times so far in 2014, one off the Division I lead. But head coach Kliff Kingsbury isn’t ready to let Webb take the blame for the spate of turnovers. “It’s a combination of everything, bad play calls, tough reads and not being in the right spot,” said Kingsbury, who insisted Webb would remain the starter. “It’s a combination of things. It’s not on one person."

EXTRA POINTS

1. Mountaineers QB Clint Trickett comes into the week ranked fourth in the nation in passing yardage (1,902).

2. Both the Mountaineers and Red Raiders are -8 in turnover differential.

3. Webb has been sacked just once on the season.

PREDICTION: West Virginia 45, Texas Tech 38