Texas Tech football: Matt Wells has exactly the type of debut he needed
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.
More from Wreck'Em Red
- Texas Tech football: Red Raider fans need to know about these Mountaineers
- Texas Tech football: Red Raiders land first commit for class of 2025
- Texas Tech football: Why have the Red Raiders struggled on the road under McGuire?
- Texas Tech football: Why the Red Raiders can compete for a Big 12 title
- Texas Tech football: Plenty of questions remain as conference play arrives
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.