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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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Keith Washington #28 of the West Virginia Mountaineers returns an interception for a touchdown against the Texas Tech Red Raiders (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
Keith Washington #28 of the West Virginia Mountaineers returns an interception for a touchdown against the Texas Tech Red Raiders (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

No. 7 – West Virginia

Prior to 2019, West Virginia had been just like Iowa State in that it was a program that Tech fans simply assumed the Red Raiders were going to lose to.  Under former head coach Dana Holgorsen, the Mountaineers were able to out-tough the Red Raiders both physically and mentally as they won five-straight in the series.

But with Holgorsen off to Houston last year and the roster he left behind decimated by graduations and transfers, WVU went from playing for a spot in the conference title game in 2018’s regular-season finale to the bottom quarter of the Big 12 with Tech and Kansas in 2019.  That included a 38-17 loss to the Red Raiders at home in November.

What will always make the games with West Virginia important for Wells is that he needs to prove to Texas Tech football fans that he was the better hire than Neal Brown after the 2018 season.  That’s because a portion of the Tech fan base wanted Kirby Hocutt to hire Brown, the former Red Raider offensive coordinator under Tommy Tuberville, and one of the hottest up-and-coming names in the coaching industry, to replace Kingsbury, not Wells.

Though there was more support for Holgorsen to be Kingsbury’s successor, the fact is that Brown would have been the preferred choice over Wells for almost all Red Raider fans.  But Hocutt hired the guy he wanted and as fate would have it, Brown would soon land in the Big 12 himself to provide a yearly reminder of Hocutt’s decision.

Next. The all-time West Texas Red Raider football roster. dark

Tech needs to get back to being a tougher and more feared team than West Virginia and 2019 was a nice start.  This year, Wells needs to keep that momentum going by beating in front of the local fans the man that many people would still rather have roaming the home sidelines at Jones Stadium.

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