Texas Tech Blows by UTEP for 69-20 Win

Patrick Mahomes passed for 361 yards and 4 touchdowns and added another 2 touchdowns on the ground in just about three quarters of play en route to a 69-20 pasting of the UTEP Miners.

Texas Tech got things going in a hurry, striking on a 60 yard pass play from Mahomes to Jakeem Grant just 1:03 into the ball game.

The Miners would move the chains once on their opening possession, but would be punting soon after that, setting up another quick drive by the Raiders that would end up putting them ahead 10-0 just past the midway point of the first quarter.

UTEP would respond, using a 10 play 75 yard drive capped by a beautiful 24 yard catch and run by Aaron Jones. That score put the Miners on the board and got them to within three at 10-7 late in the first quarter.

It would take just over a minute for Tech to answer back, moving 75 yards on 5 plays to put their lead back up to 10 points at 17-7 with 51 seconds left in the period.

The second quarter would start with promise, but end as a nightmare as the Miners would once again pull to within 3 on a program record 91 yard run by Aaron Jones, before seeing their star go down without an apparent ankle injury.

Tech would get seven more, and the Miners would tack on a field making the margin seven at 24-17 with about 5 minutes left in the half. Jones would go down on the ensuing UTEP possession, would be carted off the field, and would not return again.

The wheels simply fell off from there. The Red Raiders would blow it open, putting up a pair of touchdowns in the final four minutes of the half to stretch their lead out to 38-17 at the break. They wouldn't look back from there.

Mahomes and running back DeAndre Washington would begin to go to work on the ground in the second half, and would  each have a rushing touchdown in the third quarter. Those two, preceded by a fourth touchdown toss by Mahomes turned this one into a rout at 55-17.

The Miners would tack on a Jay Mattox field goal in the fourth, but two more rushing touchdowns by backup quarterback Davis Webb would finish things off and give the Raiders a blowout 69-20 win.

Patrick Mahomes finished 18 of 33 for 364 yards and 4 touchdowns, and also added 23 yards and 2 scores on 6 carries. Davis Webb finished 5 of 9 for 84 yards and also had a pair of rushing touchdowns himself.

DeAndre Washington led the Raiders rushing attack, finishing with 138 yards and a score on just 12 carries. As a team, Tech rushed for 227 yards and 5 touchdowns on 30 carries.

The Miners were led by Mack Leftwich who finished 14 of 22 for 164 yards and a score. Kavika Johnson was 2 of 3 for 8 yards and Ryan Metz finished 3 of 6 for 15.

Aaron Jones led all rushers with 139 yards and a score on 17 carries, and also had 3 receptions for 23 yards and another score before leaving late in the first half. Seven other Miners carried the football, but none rushed for more than 18 yards.

Hayden Plinke was the Miners leading receiver, hauling in 4 catches for 87 yards. Fellow tight end Cedrick Lang was also in the mix, catching two passes for 11 yards.

Texas Tech won the first down battle 29 to 18, and had 674 yards of total offense compared to 414 for the Miners. The Miners held a huge advantage in time of possession, 40:15 to 19:45, but unfortunately that meant nothing in this one. UTEP also finished with 2 turnovers while Tech had none.

The loss drops the Miners to 0-2 on the young season, while Texas Tech improves to 2-0. The Miners will now have to regroup and prepare for their third road contest to start the season, this one just down the road against NMSU. Kickoff for that one is slated for 6:00 p.m. MT.

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