Texas Tech football: Matt Wells’ best games as Utah State head coach
No. 1: 2013’s near-upset of USC
In 2013, Matt Wells nearly pulled off the upset of the year when his Utah State team took USC to the wire in Los Angeles before falling 17-14 in his fourth game as a college head coach. Though Wells was unaware of it at the time, this hard-fought loss would be the most important game of his career from a personal perspective.
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That’s because this performance was what put Wells’ on the radar of Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt. After the game, USC linebackers coach Mike Ekeler called his friend Hocutt to tell him how impressed he was with the toughness of the Aggies.
"“Even with all the talent in the world,” wrote Texas Monthly’s Shehan Jeyarajah in an aritcle about Wells’ hiring at Tech, “Ekeler saw the USC staff struggle to plan for a Utah State squad that was schematically difficult. The Trojans struggled to deal with the physicality that Utah State instilled in its program. “"
That USC team finished the season 10-4 and in the top-20. Though it was not a classic USC powerhouse of a squad, the Trojans had four players selected in the 2014 NFL Draft.
What’s more, three of those players were on the offensive side of the ball. Despite featuring Cody Kessler at QB and Marquise Lee and Nelson Agholor at WR, USC managed just 282 total yards, with Kessler passing for just 164.
Next. 2019's toss up games. dark
At the time, Texas Tech was still in the honeymoon stage of Kingsbury’s tenure and no one was even considering candidates to succeed him, especially after he began that season 7-0. But credit Kirby Hocutt for being wise enough to take his friend’s advice and take a look a Matt Wells. Though Wells is a name that seemed to come out of nowhere for Tech fans last November, he is a candidate Hocutt had been evaluating for six years. Hopefully, that diligence will pay off now that Wells is leading the Red Raiders.