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Texas Tech football: Ranking 2020’s games by importance to Matt Wells (No. 7-12)

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 05: Head coach Matt Wells of the Texas Tech Red Raiders leaves the field after the college football game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on October 05, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 05: Head coach Matt Wells of the Texas Tech Red Raiders leaves the field after the college football game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on October 05, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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Texas Tech’s The Goin’ Band from Raiderland enters the stadium  (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
Texas Tech’s The Goin’ Band from Raiderland enters the stadium  (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

Anyone who has followed sports for any period of time will have heard a coach say that the next game is the most important game on the schedule and that every game is of equal importance.  Former Texas Tech football head coach Mike Leach used to try to drive that point home by referring to the next team on the schedule by their color rather than by the school name so that the Texas or Texas A&M games remained as important as the Iowa State or Kansas games.

But the unavoidable reality is that all games are not created equal.  That’s what makes college football special.

Rivalries are the driving force behind the passion of college sports.  They make hatred socially acceptable and personally enjoyable on a handful of Saturdays in the fall.

Don’t try to suggest to a Notre Dame fan that a game against Navy or Army is of the same importance as a game against Michigan or USC.  Likewise, the Iron Bowl meeting between Alabama and Auburn not only divides a state but often divides families throughout the south.  That’s not the case when Alabama plays The Citadel.

The same is true in West Texas.  One has to merely drive through Lubbock when Texas or Oklahoma is in town to see that there is a different vibe in the Hub City on those weekends than there is when Kansas State or Louisiana Tech comes calling.

Of course, no program in the nation brought out the best and worst in the South Plains than Texas A&M.  The weekends when Tech hosted A&M were madness in Lubbock and the cessation of that rivalry has left the football schedule in odd-numbered years lacking as the likes of Oklahoma State, TCU, Iowa State, and Kansas State don’t stir the emotions of Texas Tech football fans the way the invasion of the Aggies always did.

In 2020, the seven games on the home schedule will bring five high-interest opponents to Lubbock and provided that the games are allowed to be played in front of fans, it should make for a fun fall around town. But for Matt Wells, every contest is indeed critical because it is imperative that he produce at the very least a six-win regular-season after a 4-8 debut last fall.

So in that sense, the old coaching cliches might hold some weight.  But even though the importance of getting to six wins is paramount, Wells needs to make certain that at least some of those victories carry enough weight with the fan base to start to win over some of his detractors.

For instance, if his five wins are against Alabama State, UTEP, Kansas, Arizona, West Virginia, and Kansas State, the season will not be as uplifting as it would be if it were to include upsets of Oklahoma or Texas as those are the type of home wins this program desperately needs to start collecting once again in order to win back the hearts of the fans.  So let’s rank the 12 games on the 2020 schedule by the importance to Matt Wells and analyze how much a win over each opponent will impact the perception of the man in charge.

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