West Virginia has one game remaining in the 2024 regular season and for now that is the sole focus.

Yes, the Mountaineers have already clinched a bowl berth which means there is an additional game coming as well as the start of the early signing period Dec. 4 but for now the primary objective for the football program is to try to finish the season strong in Lubbock.

West Virginia is at 6-5, 5-3 in the Big 12 and will take on a Texas Tech team that sits at 7-4 and 5-3 in the league. For the Mountaineers, the motivation is obvious in the sense that they could each their seventh win of the season and also secure six wins in the Big 12 for the second consecutive year.

That has yet to happen since the program joined the league in 2012.

“What we’ve really talked about is kind of putting blinders on. You know, the, the season’s really long. If you think about it, it’s kind of like a marathon. Well, you’re here at the, at the last leg of the regular season. It’s really a sprint, you know, it’s a sprint. And we need to be focused on what’s at hand,” head coach Neal Brown said. “The finish line in the Texas Tech game. And so, I think anything after that be premature.”

Once that game is wrapped up there will be time to sort out potential bowl destinations for the program, but Brown is happy for his team that it’s gotten to that point. The moment wasn’t lost on him at the conclusion of the UCF game when he admittedly was happy for his senior class to go out at home with a win.

“I think this has been a long year and we haven’t played as well as home. And so, it’d been a while since we’d actually done country roads at home. And that’s because we hadn’t played as well as a home as we’re capable of. So not real emotions, more probably there’s some relief when you win too. I mean, in pure honesty, but I think I was happier for our seniors in the moment,” he said.

The Mountaineers are currently 3-0 on the road in the Big 12 this season beating Oklahoma State, Arizona and Cincinnati and can cap the year off with a strong showing against the Red Raiders. That isn’t lost on Brown as he believes despite how unique the trip is overall, it’s a great opportunity for his team.

“I think a lot of times in these early kicks, it’s the team that’s ready to go at kickoff or are the ones that have success. We’ve got to, we practice in the mornings, so it shouldn’t be much different to their body clock. But we’ve got to have a really good week of preparation,” he said.

It’s always a challenge to play on the road and the Mountaineers will need to handle the trip as well as they have in other Big 12 matchups but there is still plenty of motivation to close things out strong.

With full attention on the task at hand.

“Our guys have accepted the challenge and they’ve got to do it one more time,” Brown said.

West Virginia unveiled the uniform combination they plan to wear this weekend when they face Texas Tech.

Their combination will feature them wearing blue helmets, white jerseys, and white pants.

So far this season, WVU has worn blue helmets five times, white jerseys four times, and white pants two times.

According to WVUniforms 304 on X, WVU is 18-15 all-time in this uniform and they last wore these on the road against Houston in 2023.

West Virginia is coming off a win over UCF, while Texas Tech is coming off a win over Oklahoma State as it is both team’s regular-season finale.

Kickoff is set for noon on Saturday and the game will be televised on FS1.

From U of L:

FINAL SCORE: Louisville 79, West Virginia 70 OT

RECORDS AND NOTABLES

• Louisville improves to 5-1 on the season. West Virginia falls to 4-2.

• UofL is now 10-4 against West Virginia all-time.

• Head coach Pat Kelsey is now 1-0 in his career against the West Virginia Mountaineers.

• Louisville recorded its largest margin of victory in an overtime game since defeating North Carolina 78-68 on January 31, 2015.

• This marks the biggest overtime win away from home since a double-overtime 82-71 victory over West Virginia on March 8, 2007, during the Big East Tournament.

• UP NEXT: Louisville will advance in the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament and is set to face either Oklahoma or Arizona in the championship game on Friday evening. The game is scheduled for tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN.

TEAM NOTES

• UofL used the starting lineup of Chucky Hepburn, Terrence Edwards Jr., J’Vonne Hadley, Noah Waterman and Kasean Pryor. The lineup is now 2-0 on the year.

• KEY FIRST HALF RUN: Louisville used a 6-0 run from 14:51 to 12:56 to gain the lead, with three points scored in the paint and the run capped off by a three-pointer. West Virginia used a 15-3 run to create a 10-point lead. Louisville scored the final seven points of the half to cut that to a four-point deficit.

• KEY SECOND HALF RUN: Louisville went on a 14-2 run to regain the lead and extend it to seven with 4:22 left to play. During the run, seven points came from the free-throw line, four points were scored in the paint, and three came from beyond the arc. Regulation ended with both teams deadlocked at 62.

• KEY OVERTIME RUN: Louisville used a 12-3 run over the final 2:30 of overtime to secure the 79-70 victory.

• Louisville shot 24 of 57 for 42.1% from the field, 7 of 28 for 25% from behind the arc, and 24 of 33 for 72.7% at the charity stripe.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

CHUCKY HEPBURN

• Senior guard Chucky Hepburn scored a career-high 32 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 2-of-5 from behind the arc and 14-of-17 from the free-throw line. Hepburn also added three rebounds, two assists, and six steals in 38 minutes of play.

REYNE SMITH

• The senior guard recorded 15 points, shooting 4-10 (40%) from 3-point territory. Smith also added three rebounds while playing for 37 minutes.

KASEAN PRYOR

• The fifth year forward recorded 13 points, shooting 4-of-11 from the field. He added eight rebounds, two assists and three blocks while playing 35 minutes.