The play didn’t move the needle on the Richter scale, but it may have provided the perfect look at why Texas Tech has been able to author a 180-degree turnaround on defense so far this season.

In the third quarter of Tech’s 49-14 rout of West Virginia on Saturday, Tavon Austin, the Mountaineers’ blazing-fast wide receiver, caught the ball in the flat and prepared to turn up the field. A few yards in front of Austin was Tech cornerback Eugene Neboh, charged with stopping one of the nation’s most dynamic playmakers. Austin faked a step to his right, shaking his head and shoulders in an attempt to pry Neboh off balance.

But off balance is something the Red Raiders have rarely been this season. Neboh kept his weight centered, and as Austin burst to his left in an attempt to sprint up the sidelines, Neboh cut him off and pushed him out of bounds after a 4-yard gain.

And so it’s gone for Art Kaufman’s defense, closing the door on potential big-play opportunities for opponent offenses.

The No. 18 Red Raiders (5-1, 2-1 in Big 12 Conference) have given up fewer plays of 20 or more yards (eight) than any team in the country. Alabama, the second-ranked team on that list, has surrendered 11 such plays.

Furthermore, only five teams have given up fewer plays of 10 or more yards than Tech’s 57.

“I think it’s just going back to fundamentals,” Tech safety Cody Davis said after recording a season-high 13 tackles, all solo, during Saturday’s game. “Overall, open-field tackling was huge. Everybody seemed to get them down on the ground when it was one-on-one.”

At the midpoint of the season, Tech’s defense ranks fourth overall nationally (243 yards per game), a whopping 110 spots ahead of where it finished in 2011. A key to the surge has been the big-play prevention.

West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith connected with Austin on a 38-yard pass to set up a first-quarter touchdown. But the Mountaineers didn’t pull off another play of 20 yards the rest of the day, with a 17-yard pass from Smith to J.D. Woods accounting for the team’s second-biggest gain.

When Kaufman took the job as Tech’s defensive coordinator, he said he liked the talent, speed and leadership he was inheriting. The key, he said, was getting back basics, focusing on details and doing all the proverbial little things.

A skim of photos from the West Virginia game reveals players with both of their arms wrapped around a ball carrier, with several defenders often in the mix on a tackle.

“We work on tackling every day,” Tech coach Tommy Tuberville said. “We’ve tackled pretty well all year long.”

For the Red Raiders, those seemingly small successes have kept big plays from hurting their chances.

“Our guys play extremely hard and try to do what we ask them to do,” Kaufman said. “All we talk about in the course of the game is, don’t worry about the last play. Just go to the next play and you’ll have a chance to get yourself off the field.”

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