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

ByMatthew 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)

The Red Raiders did not fool around with a huge underdog

Of course, Power 5 and FBS teams should throttle FCS teams.  Well…tell that to fans in Knoxville, Ames, Lawrence, Morgantown, and Minneapolis.

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Texas Tech came into this game favorited by 25 points.  Still, some thought that the No. 15 ranked Bobcats might be able to spring a trap on a Red Raider team in transition.

But Tech jumped out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead and held a 28-7 halftime advantage.  Any thought of a Montana State upset was essentially quelled by the fact that the Bobcats failed to register a first down on their first four possessions.

Imagine how different we would feel about the 2019 Red Raiders and the beginning of the Matt Wells era if the Red Raiders would have struggled to beat an FCS lamb on Saturday.  It would have provided some of those still skeptical about the new staff and reluctant to fully buy-in more reason to remain steadfast in their cynicism.

Sometimes, an early-season struggle against an FCS team is just a minor blip on the radar.  But sometimes it is an indication that there may be cracks in the foundation of the team as we saw first-hand in 2014.

In Kliff Kingsbury’s second season-opener, the Red Raiders trailed FCS foe Arkansas State in the second quarter and had to fend off repeated charges from the Bears in a 42-35 win.  At the time, we dismissed it as a bad game given that we were coming off the high of the 8-win 2013 season.

However, the Red Raiders finished just 4-8 that year and in hindsight, the close call against Central Arkansas should have foreshadowed the struggles to come.  But at the time Kingsbury could do no wrong in Lubbock and we all decided to give him a pass.  Had Wells put forth a similar struggle in his debut, it would have given many a reason to doubt that he is going to be the one to bring the program back to prominence.  If for just one week, there’s little that anyone in Lubbock can complain about after a debut that went as well as anyone could have hoped for.

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