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Texas Tech football: Matt Wells has exactly the type of debut he needed

By Matthew Conner

STILLWATER, OK - SEPTEMBER 25: The Texas Tech Red Raiders flag flies outside the stadium before the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys September 25, 2014 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Cowboys defeated the Red Raiders 45-35. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
STILLWATER, OK - SEPTEMBER 25: The Texas Tech Red Raiders flag flies outside the stadium before the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys September 25, 2014 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Cowboys defeated the Red Raiders 45-35. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
(Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

Saturday, new Texas Tech football head coach Matt Wells had the perfect debut as his team showed the Red Rader faithful everything we wanted to see.

Had any Texas Tech football fan been given the power to construct the perfect game for new head coach Matt Wells to debut with, he or she would have been hard-pressed to craft a better showing than the one the Red Raiders put forth on Saturday afternoon in Lubbock.  By dominating top-25 FCS program Montana State 45-10, the new head man at Tech saw his team give the home fans enough to leave them feeling more assured in the direction of the program.

For Wells, it had to be nice to finally be the heavy favorite rather than the sacrificial lamb in a season opener.  That’s because in his six years as head coach of his alma mater Utah State, Wells took his Group of 5 team on the road to take on a Power 5 team in the season’s first week four times, all on the road.  Not surprisingly, he went 0-4 though he did have a couple of near upsets.

In his first-ever game as a head coach in 2013, the former college QB saw his USU squad drop a hard-fought game to in-state rival Utah 30-26.  That night, the Aggies had the lead until the Utes hit a field goal with 6:38 to play in the 4th quarter.

In 2014, Wells took his team to Knoxville, TN where they were blown out 38-7 by Tennessee.  The Volunteers jumped out to a 17-0 halftime lead and were up 31-0 in the 4th quarter before USU put a score on the board.

After opening with home wins over Southern Utah and Weber State in the next two seasons, Wells went back on the road to begin the 2017 season.   That day, the opponent was different but the result was the same.

In a 59-10 loss at No. 9 Wisconsin, Utah State put up a fight and jumped out to a 10-0 lead.  But the Badgers tied the game with ten points in the second quarter and took control with 28 points in the third.

Last fall, the Aggies put a scare into one of Wisconsin’s Big 10 rivals, Michigan State, to begin the season.  In a 38-31 Spartan victory, Utah State fought the No. 11 team in the nation to a 31-31 deadlock until the final two minutes of the game when the home team scored the decisive touchdown.

Fortunately, Wells found life as a favorite much more agreeable.  On Saturday, he was finally on the other side of the equation as the mean leading a power 5 program into battle against a team that was a heavy underdog.

"“Honestly, truth be told, I didn’t know what to expect,” he said in his postgame press conference.  “You’re coaching a team for the first time, under the lights and in front of fans, were we going to look like we had in our closed scrimmages and our practices? We were close to that. I’m proud of our guys. There’s been a lot of change since December the 1st. A ton of change for those guys. I’m proud of the way they have reacted to it.”"

Wells became the 4th-consecutive head coach to win his debut with the Red Raiders.  In 2013, Kliff Kingsbury brought home a 41-23 road win over SMU to begin his tenure.

His predecessor, Tommy Tuberville also beat SMU in his debut, a 35-27 win in Lubbock on a late summer day in 2010 so hot that the stadium ran out of bottled water.  And in 2000, Mike Leach’s team put together a 24-3 win over New Mexico in Lubbock.

The last time a Tech head coach lost his debut was in 1987 when Spike Dykes had the misfortune of having to begin his career by taking on the No. 8 Florida State Seminoles in Tallahassee.  The 40-16 loss was one of just four that season for the legendary West Texas ball coach in his first go-round in charge.

Wells had it far easier in his debut.  Still, on a day when we saw Tennessee lose at home to Georgia State, we must appreciate the way the Red Raiders took care of business. And it was in how the Red Raiders handled their business that made this the ideal starting point for a head coach that has spent a considerable portion of his time since arriving in November trying to sell himself to his team, his university, and his fan base.

Saturday’s win was a huge step in the right direction on that front.  In fact, it might have been the perfect debut for Wells, let’s get into why.

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