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Texas Tech football: Five worst losses of Matt Wells’ time at Utah State

By Matthew Conner

BOISE, ID - NOVEMBER 24: Head Coach Matt Wells of the Utah State Aggies walks off the field at the conclusion of second half action against the Boise State Broncos on November 24, 2018 at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho. Boise State won the game 33-24. (Photo by Loren Orr/Getty Images)
BOISE, ID - NOVEMBER 24: Head Coach Matt Wells of the Utah State Aggies walks off the field at the conclusion of second half action against the Boise State Broncos on November 24, 2018 at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho. Boise State won the game 33-24. (Photo by Loren Orr/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) /

Late missed FG leads to loss at New Mexico in 2015

One of the worst FBS football programs in the nation over the last decade has been the New Mexico Lobos.  Finishing in the bottom two in either the overall conference standings or their division in five of the seven years since 2012, UNM football is as much of an afterthought in Albuquerque as ice hockey is in Equador.

That’s why losing to the Lobos 14-13 in 2015 was an extremely disappointing outcome for Wells and his Aggies.  USU had a chance to escape with the win but a Brock Warren 41-yard field goal sailed wide right with just a minute to go sending the Aggies back to Logan with their tails between their legs.  It was Warren’s first miss of the year after he made his first eight kicks.

Playing in front of a crowd smaller than most of Wells’ players at Tech played in front of on a routine basis in high school, the Aggies were lethargic and flat.  QB’s Kent Myers and Chuckie Keeton combined to complete just 14 of 25 passes for 216 yards and a touchdown while the USU ground game averaged just 2.1 yards on 37 carries.

Though the 2015 versions of the Aggies and Lobos were somewhat evenly matched as both teams ended the season 6-6, the Aggies were certainly the favorite in this game.  That season, they had respectable showings against Utah and Washington on the road keeping both games against PAC 12 powers within two scores.

But against the Lobos, they simply did not show up.  They entered the game having scored 50 points or more in three of their last four games and were facing a UNM defense that had allowed at least four opponents to hit the 30-point mark already that season.

This game is reminiscent of Tech’s 2017 debacle at home against Kansas St. when a Clayton Hatfield missed FG allowed a bad KSU team to sneak out of Lubbock with an overtime win.   And like Tech and KSU, Utah State and New Mexico are two programs occupying the same relative neighborhood in their conference in terms of prestige but with USU being a little higher on the conference ladder.

In Lubbock, Wells must make certain that he wins games against programs in the Big 12’s middle-class because they will be what separates the teams fighting to move up.  He failed to do so in 2015 in a loss to a UNM team that finished higher in the conference standings than the Aggies because of a flat effort and missed FG in Albuquerque.

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