LUBBOCK (Interstat) — Thomas Castellanos threw five touchdown passes and Texas Tech withstood a furious West Virginia comeback, defeating the visiting Mountaineers 53-48 in an NCAA Football Bowl Division game on Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium. The Red Raiders improved to 8-1 on the season, while West Virginia, which had won 24-20 at Texas Christian in its previous outing, fell to 5-4. A crowd of 60,229 watched a game that featured 101 combined points, big plays in every quarter and a late defensive stop that made the difference. The Red Raiders held on for a five-point victory.

Castellanos was the top star for Texas Tech, completing 18 of 27 passes for 362 yards and five touchdowns while adding 23 carries for 102 yards. The 6-foot, 190-pound quarterback from Waycross, Georgia, had helped Texas Tech beat Arizona 34-26 in its previous game by completing 11 of 24 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns and running 19 times for 117 yards and one touchdown, but he delivered a far bigger passing performance Saturday. J’Koby Williams gave the Red Raiders a powerful complement on the ground with 19 carries for 160 yards and a touchdown, plus three receptions for 42 yards. Kenny Johnson caught five passes for 84 yards and two touchdowns, Terrance Carter Jr. had four catches for 81 yards and two scores, and Jett Carpenter added a 1-yard touchdown reception. Micah Hudson contributed two catches for 76 yards, Chase Campbell had two for 56 and Coy Eakin one for 22. Quinten Joyner scored on a 1-yard run and finished with six carries for 10 yards, while Cameron Dickey added three carries for 8 yards. Stone Harrington made a 46-yard field goal, and Will Karoll punted five times for 211 yards.

Texas Tech’s defense had to work hard against a West Virginia offense that kept answering. Austin Romaine led the Red Raiders with 15 tackles. Trey White finished with six tackles, two sacks and a quarterback hurry, and he recorded a late safety that helped seal the outcome. Ben Roberts and Charles Anderson Jr. each made seven tackles, while A.J. Holmes Jr. and Brenden Jordan added five tackles apiece. Brock Golwas and Oliver Miles III each had one tackle. The Red Raiders needed all of that production because West Virginia moved the ball consistently and turned the game into a back-and-forth affair.

West Virginia quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. accounted for four touchdowns, completing 11 of 16 passes for 303 yards and a score while running 19 times for 88 yards and three touchdowns. Cam Cook carried 23 times for 149 yards and a touchdown and added two receptions for 9 yards. TaRon Francis was the Mountaineers’ biggest big-play threat with three catches for 169 yards and a touchdown. Prince Strachan added three receptions for 70 yards, Ryan Ward had one catch for 43 yards, Cyrus Traugh had one catch for 4 yards, and Amari Latimer rushed 15 times for 36 yards and a score. DJ Epps had one run for 15 yards and one reception for 8 yards. West Virginia also got field goals of 30 and 29 yards from Jack Cassidy. Hawkins scored on runs of 3, 2 and 3 yards, Latimer added a 3-yard touchdown run and Cook scored on a 2-yard run.

West Virginia’s defense was led by Kameron Reddic with 11 tackles. Jason Hall Jr. made nine tackles and one sack, while Isaiah Patterson and Andrew Powdrell each recorded eight tackles. Ben Cutter added six tackles, Cam Torbor five, and KJ Henson four tackles with one sack and one quarterback hurry. David Afogho had four tackles, Geimere Latimer II had three, Nate Gabriel had three, and Chams Diagne, Harper Holloman and Nick Taylor each had two. Matt Sieg returned a punt 74 yards and made two tackles, while Kamari Wilson, Tyler Stolsky, Keyshawn Robinson and Miles Khatri each had one tackle. Bryan Hansen punted four times for 191 yards. The Mountaineers scored 10 points in the first quarter and 21 in the second, using that second-quarter surge to climb back into the game after Texas Tech had opened with 27 first-quarter points. Texas Tech added 12 points in the third quarter and 14 in another quarter, while West Virginia scored 17 in another quarter, but the Red Raiders made the final decisive plays. The Mountaineers finished with 48 points and kept the outcome in doubt until the final minutes.

The most important part of the game came in the closing minutes. After West Virginia kept the pressure on, Harrington’s 46-yard field goal gave Texas Tech breathing room. Castellanos then found Kenny Johnson for a 5-yard touchdown with 2:44 remaining, and Trey White’s safety with 1:24 left provided the final cushion. Earlier, Castellanos opened the scoring with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Carter Jr. and later hit Carter for 29 yards. Hawkins connected with Francis for a 73-yard score, while Williams broke free for a 75-yard touchdown run. Castellanos also threw touchdown passes of 1 yard to Carpenter and 38 yards to Johnson, and Joyner scored on a 1-yard run. The final minutes were the most important stretch because Texas Tech answered West Virginia’s pressure with a field goal, a touchdown pass and a safety. The sequence capped a game in which Texas Tech’s offense produced 53 points and enough late defense to survive a West Virginia team that refused to go away.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Texas Tech 60, West Virginia 23. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Texas Tech with a 94.2 percent probability to win. Texas Tech had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -16.5. The total score of 101 went under the over/under line of 66.5.