Tahj Brooks shines in the final home game as Texas Tech defeats West Virginia 52-15

Tahj Brooks threw for a season-high 188 yards and three touchdowns in the final home game as Texas Tech’s all-time leading rusher, and the Red Raiders earned a 52-15 victory over West Virginia on Saturday.

Texas Tech (8-4, 6-3 Big 12) kept slim hopes of playing in the Big 12 championship game alive by winning at least eight regular-season games for the first time since 2009 under the late Mike Leach.

Garrett Greene threw an interception and lost a fumble on Terrell Tilmon’s strip sack in the final three minutes of the first half as the Mountaineers (6-6, 5-4) raised more questions about coach Neal Brown’s future by falling behind 35- 3 before the break.

Behren Morton threw for 359 yards and two touchdowns, including a 31-yarder to Caleb Douglas that gave Texas Tech a 42-3 lead early in the second half. Josh Kelly had 150 yards receiving.

Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire, who will capture his third winning record in three seasons, called a timeout with 5:57 left and his team lead 45-15 to remove Brooks from the game. Teammates mobbed Brooks as the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Brooks rushed for at least 100 yards in all 11 regular season games, breaking the school record of 10 yards rushing in a season that he shared with Byron Hanspard and Bam Morris.

In his first home game since breaking Hanspard’s 1996 school record of 4,219 yards at Jones AT&T Stadium two weeks ago, Brooks increased his career total to 4,557 yards.

Two of Brooks’ TDs came on 2-yard runs on direct snaps, and the other was a 37-yarder when he stumbled on a cut but stayed on his feet and bounced off defensive back Ty French. Brooks has 17 touchdowns this season and 45 in his career. Brooks set up one of his short touchdowns with a 30-yard catch.

Jahiem White ran for 124 yards with a 21-yard touchdown for West Virginia, and Greene had a 15-yard scoring throw to Rodney Gallagher III. Greene threw two picks.

West Virginia: A perfect away season in the Big 12 ended with a thud. The Mountaineers were 3-0 on the road in conference play before allowing 29 points in the second quarter, followed by another touchdown just 2:12 into the third quarter.

Texas Tech: Tight end Jalin Conyers, one of Brooks’ classmates playing his final home game, made up for a lost pass in the end zone with a juggling, 18-yard diving catch to set up Morton’s 1-yard scoring throw Mason prepare Tharp. Conyers, a transfer from Arizona State, also scored a 2-point conversion run on a swinging gate play by the PAT unit.

Both teams are eligible for bowl games. At the end of the game, Texas Tech’s fate for a spot in the Big 12 title game was still uncertain.

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