Wreck'Em Red
Fansided

Texas Tech football: Concerning trends regarding Matt Wells’ career

By Matthew Conner

Jul 15, 2019; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Matt Wells speaks to the media during Big 12 media days at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 15, 2019; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Matt Wells speaks to the media during Big 12 media days at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 9
Next
WACO, TEXAS – OCTOBER 12: Head coach Matt Rhule of the Baylor Bears visits with head coach Matt Wells of the Texas Tech Red Raiders before the game on October 12, 2019 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)
WACO, TEXAS – OCTOBER 12: Head coach Matt Rhule of the Baylor Bears visits with head coach Matt Wells of the Texas Tech Red Raiders before the game on October 12, 2019 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images) /

He’s been awful against Power 5 opponents

One of the biggest questions that a coach from outside of the Power 5 conferences has to answer when taking over a major conference program like Texas Tech is whether or not he can compete at the highest level of the sport.  After all, life in the Big 12, Big 10, ACC, SEC, and PAC 12 is far more demanding than life in other leagues because almost every week brings a new Power 5 foe to contend with.

So far in his career, Matt Wells has yet to prove capable of beating such teams with any hint of regularity.  In fact, he’s just 3-20 overall.

Now, on the one hand, it’s tough to criticize him too much for going 1-9 against Power 5 teams while at Utah State because those are games the Aggies are not supposed to win.  And he did push USC and Utah (2013) and Michigan State (2018) to the brink.

But if he’d proven capable of winning Power 5 games at Tech, we wouldn’t be citing his dreadful record in these games.  Since coming to Lubbock, he’s gone a mere 2-11 against Big 12 teams and Arizona, the lone out-of-conference Power 5 school he’s played with the Red Raiders.

The problem Wells faces is that for the rest of his time with the Red Raiders, he’s going to have to face a Power 5 team at least nine and usually ten times per season.  There will be no more conference games against New Mexico, UNLV, and Wyoming to help pad the win column and when he loses to Iowa State, Kansas State, or Texas (as he’s done already this year), it will be considered unacceptable rather than simply being a game that no one expected him to win.  On the other hand, Red Raider fans already have come to the place where we don’t expect him to win Power 5 games anyway, so he’s got that going for him.

Home/Texas Tech Football