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Texas Tech football: Three obstacles Matt Wells must overcome in 2019

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 08: Demarcus Felton #2 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts to scoring a touchdown during the first half of the game against the Lamar Cardinals on September 08, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 08: Demarcus Felton #2 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders reacts to scoring a touchdown during the first half of the game against the Lamar Cardinals on September 08, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
(Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /

2019 schedule is less than favorable

The best one can say about the Texas Tech schedule this fall is that Matt Wells gets to open up with an FCS team in Montana State and arguably the worst FBS team in the nation last year, UTEP, to begin his tenure.  This is far better than opening with a Power 5 opponent as Tech did last year in the season-opening loss to Ole Miss in Houston.

But the rest of the 2019 schedule is not set up to give Matt Wells a pleasant introduction to life as a Big 12 coach.  Tech’s one Big 12 mandated out of conference game comes in week-3 on the road against a dangerous Arizona team featuring Khalil Tate (one of the better QB’s in the nation).  The Wildcats should be improved from last year’s 5-7 record in year-two of the Kevin Sumlin era after having already gone through their transition year with their head coach.

And in Big 12 play, Tech has to face Oklahoma, Texas, Baylor, West Virginia and Kansas on the road.  OU and UT will enter the year in the top-10 nationally and Baylor and WVU will be predicted to be in the top half of the conference, making the conference road slate daunting.

2019 will see Tech face six Power-5 opponents on the road, rather than facing just four away from Lubbock as was the case last year.  Working against Tech is the fact that the Baylor series has returned to campus and because the last time the teams did not play in the Metroplex (2008), the game was in Lubbock, the series resumes in Waco.

Kirby Hocutt should have foreseen that a return to campus for that series was possible at the end of the agreement with AT&T Stadium and done everything in his power to schedule Tech’s 2019 non-con Power 5 game at home.  But there is no way to change that now and as a result, Matt Wells will have to face an incredibly difficult road through his first season.

Tech has not won in Norman since 2011 and only once in 13 all-time games.  Meanwhile, the Red Raiders are riding a two-game losing skid in Morgantown and the program has never won three-straight trips to Austin, which it will attempt to do this year.  If Wells is going to have success in his first season, his team will have to be able to score a couple of upsets on the road which means it will have to find a way to win in some of the tougher road environments in the Big 12.

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