The West Virginia Mountaineers took center stage in the late-night slot on ESPN on Saturday against No. 15 Texas Tech, and nearly came away with their signature win of the Rich Rodriguez era before falling just short in a 53-48 loss to Texas Tech.
With several fans still locked onto their television screens to wrap up one of the biggest days in college football this season, the Mountaineers were in the national spotlight, and their ultra-competitive game with Texas Tech which saw them take a 48-41 lead in the third quarter after trailing by 14 points at halftime turned heads all across college football.
WVU/Texas Tech is some old fashioned Big 12 fun.
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) November 8, 2026
holy shit and now WVU and TTU doing *this* to finish?
— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) November 8, 2026
WVU football fans react to heartbreaking loss at No. 15 Texas Tech
But come the end of the game, while the Mountaineers might have put on a good show and earned some respect, they didn’t do enough to pull off the win – dropping to 5-4 on the season and letting down thousands of West Virginia fans who were as awake and excited as you can be after midnight on a Saturday evening.
It was a heartbreaking result, but that’s nothing new for the West Virginia fan base – those of us who have watched this team for years have learned to get acclimated to such emotions. But after fans just convinced themselves they had an eight-win team on their hands, their dreams came crashing down to reality as quickly as they had arisen. And on the sideline, Rodriguez was fuming at the end of the game.
Rich Rod is FUMING pic.twitter.com/NUFieoQMJa
— Bussin’ With The Boys (@BussinWTB) November 8, 2026
Sent this around halftime
Worst part is I know thousands of other Mountaineers sent the exact same texts 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/KO3EogeHCu
— Ethan Bock (@ethanbock_) November 8, 2026
Man, this was one I thought all year they had no shot of winning. To be this close really hurts.
— Sean Manning (@SeanManning_1) November 8, 2026
Some fans were quick to blame the defense. Despite a stellar performance on a stretch in the second alf that resulted in four consecutive stops, some West Virginia fans are upset with Zac Alley’s defense. Yes, they allowed just 10 points and 156 yards in second half, but the also allowed over 600 yards for the third time this season, and gave up 51 points…