Castellanos Throws 5 TDs, Texas Tech Survives West Virginia 53-48 on a Late Safety

By The Arena Staff

LUBBOCK, Texas, Nov. 7, 2026 — Texas Tech scored 41 points in the first half against West Virginia on Saturday night and still needed a safety in the final minutes to get out of Lubbock with a win.

Thomas Castellanos threw a career-high five touchdown passes and 362 yards, and linebacker Trey White ran Michael Hawkins Jr. down in the end zone in the final 90 seconds as the Red Raiders held off the Mountaineers 53-48 in front of a sold-out blackout crowd of 60,229 at Galaxy Stadium. West Virginia came in as a 16.5-point underdog, according to the Yahoo Sports odds listing, and led for most of the fourth quarter.

The first half was a track meet. The teams combined for 68 points and, per KCBD, 892 yards of offense before halftime, which Texas Tech's postgame notes say tied for the seventh-highest-scoring first half in a Big 12 conference game. J'Koby Williams went 75 yards untouched up the middle for one Tech score, Hawkins hit Taron Francis for a 73-yard touchdown on the other side, and Castellanos already had four touchdown passes when the Red Raiders went to the locker room up 41-27.

Then West Virginia took over. Hawkins ran for two scores and Cam Cook added another as the Mountaineers opened the second half with 21 straight points and carried a 48-41 lead into the fourth quarter. Hawkins finished with 303 passing yards on 11 of 16 and three rushing touchdowns, and Francis caught three passes for 169 yards.

Texas Tech's comeback came slowly. Stone Harrington made a 46-yard field goal with eight minutes left to cut it to 48-44. On the next drive, facing fourth-and-3 near midfield, Castellanos found Micah Hudson for a big gain, and a few plays later he hit Kenny Johnson for a 5-yard touchdown with 2:44 left to put Tech ahead 51-48.

White did the rest. He sacked Hawkins on a fourth-and-long to get the ball back, and when West Virginia got one more chance from its own 5, he chased Hawkins into the end zone for the safety, the first by a Texas Tech defense since the 2024 Liberty Bowl. Tech recovered the onside kick that followed and ran out the clock.

"Trey White said it to me last week, he said it to me again tonight. 'Man, I got your back, Coach,'" coach Joey McGuire told KCBD. White was less sentimental about the box score. "Looking at this sheet right here is kind of disgusting with all the yards that we put up," he said. "We'll go watch the film, clean it up, and go on to the next."

The Red Raiders piled up 638 yards, their most since 2020, but also allowed season highs of 48 points and 582 yards, according to the school's notes. Castellanos also ran for more than 100 yards, making him the first quarterback in program history to do that in consecutive games, and Williams added 160 rushing yards.

"Kudos to the guys that was catching the ball today," Castellanos said. "There's a couple of plays where our guys went up and made some crazy catches."

Texas Tech is 8-1 and 5-1 in the Big 12, and the win was its 14th straight at home, breaking a program record that had stood since the 1939-42 seasons. West Virginia fell to 5-4. The Red Raiders play at Oklahoma State next Saturday.

Sources: KCBD, Texas Tech Athletics postgame notes and the Yahoo Sports recap and box score.