Texas Tech football looked like when they did under the tutelage of the late Mike Leach when they defeated West Virginia by a final score of 53-48.

The wild 53-48 victory over West Virginia by No. 15 Texas Tech had five important lessons and observations from the game.

5. Big 12 title hopes and home-field advantage are still alive with this win. Texas Tech won at home in front of another great home crowd in Lubbock for the fourteenth time in a row. The Red Raiders are still very much in the running to play in the Big 12 Championship game after surviving this thrilling, high-scoring late game. Texas Tech is now solely in second place ahead of BYU with three conference games remaining.

4. Future concerns regarding injuries, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The Red Raiders had to pay a physical price for the victory as the injuries kept piling up. Running backs Quinten Joyner and Cameron Dickey injured their ankles, while wide receiver Coy Eakin suffered a broken hand, among other injuries to Texas Tech's skill position players. The ironic part is the defense is relatively healthy in comparison, and the offense, even with all the injuries, was the reason the Red Raiders won this game over the Mountaineers.

3. The Red Raider offense's tale of two halves. Texas Tech's offensive attack halted in the third quarter and early in the fourth as well after scoring 41 points and scoring nearly on every offensive possession in the first half. The Mountaineers mounted a huge 21-point third-quarter surge to take a 48-41 lead into the final quarter as WVU forced four straight punts after halftime. Texas Tech ended up scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter to help them secure the victory, but the Red Raiders' offensive attack was not good in the second half, as it was outstanding in the first half.

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2. When it mattered most, the Red Raider defense stepped up when needed in the fourth quarter. Texas Tech's defense shut out the Mountainers offense 12-0 in the fourth quarter despite allowing big plays all night, especially in the first and third quarters. They forced a crucial late-game safety to seal the win while limiting West Virginia's offense to -6 total yards and 0 scores late in the game.

1. Texas Tech finally found their quarterback. With 464 all-purpose yards and five touchdown passes, Texas Tech quarterback Thomas Castellanos put on a career performance that fueled an explosive first-half offense. The Red Raiders offense led by Castellanos finished with a season-high 638 yards after scoring almost 500 yards in the first half alone. This was only his sixth game that he played in this season, as Will Hammond started the first seven games of the season for the Red Raiders. Castellanos, after he has started the last two games for Texas Tech, has led the Red Raiders to two straight back-to-back wins, throwing for 7 touchdowns and zero interceptions. He also has rushed for over 200 yards in wins over Arizona and West Virginia, and the Texas Tech offense looks to be running on all cylinders.

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