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Texas Tech football: Why WVU game is the most important of the season

By Matthew Conner

Sep 2, 2017; Lubbock, TX, USA; A Texas Tech Red Raiders flag outside Jones AT&T Stadium before the game with the Eastern Washington Eagles. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 2, 2017; Lubbock, TX, USA; A Texas Tech Red Raiders flag outside Jones AT&T Stadium before the game with the Eastern Washington Eagles. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 25, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; A Texas Tech Red Raiders cheerleader runs with a flag before the game with the Baylor Bears at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 25, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; A Texas Tech Red Raiders cheerleader runs with a flag before the game with the Baylor Bears at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

When the Texas Tech football team faces West Virginia on Saturday, it will be one of the most important games of Matt Wells’ head coaching career and the most important game of 2020.

This weekend, the Texas Tech football season will reach the half-way point when West Virginia comes to Lubbock.  And for many reasons, it feels like the season is teetering on the edge of full-blown disaster.

It’s perhaps the most important game of Matt Wells’ tenure as a college head coach.  What’s concerning is that in several other games of increased significance during his career, he’s come up short.

In his last game as head coach at Utah State, Wells’ team had a shot at claiming a spot in the Mountain West Conference title game.  But they couldn’t earn that opportunity as they fell to No. 23 Boise State 33-24.

Interestingly, that game turned when Wells team failed on a fake punt from its own 34-yard line.  At the time, USU trailed just 10-7 in the second quarter making that decision seem strange.  Boise would score on the ensuing drive to take a 17-7 lead and the Broncos would never trail again as the gamble proved to be ill-fated.

Six seasons earlier, Utah State came up just short in the conference championship game in Wells’ debut season.  Facing current Las Vegas Raiders starting QB Derek Carr and Fresno State, Wells’ team fell 24-17 when third-string QB Craig Harrison was picked off in the final minute as the Aggies were deep in Bulldog territory.

In Wells’ second year in charge in Logan (2014), he had a chance to get back to the conference championship game but his team was blown out by Boise State 50-19.  Down at one point 34-9 in the second quarter, the Aggies gave up 283 yards on the ground in one of Wells’ most disappointing losses.

But Saturday’s game against West Virginia isn’t one in which any conference title is on the line.  In fact, it might be one of the most inconsequential contests of the year when it comes to the Big 12 race.

However, it is going to be one of the most important games of Wells’ tenure as a head coach.  So let’s take a look at why this game is so important for the increasingly embattled leader of the Texas Tech football program.

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