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Texas Tech football: Counting down Matt Wells’ worst in-game decisions

By Matthew Conner

Oct 10, 2020; Ames, Iowa, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Matt Wells looks on against the Iowa State Cyclones at Jack Trice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Powers-USA TODAY Sports.
Oct 10, 2020; Ames, Iowa, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Matt Wells looks on against the Iowa State Cyclones at Jack Trice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Powers-USA TODAY Sports. /
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LUBBOCK, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 12: Head coach Matt Wells of the Texas Tech Red Raiders leads his players toward the field before the college football game against the Houston Baptist Huskies on September 12, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 12: Head coach Matt Wells of the Texas Tech Red Raiders leads his players toward the field before the college football game against the Houston Baptist Huskies on September 12, 2020 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

The second-down FG against TCU

At this point, we are all rather familiar with the situation that led to Matt Wells’ decision to kick Saturday’s 4th-quarter field goal on second down.  And we all know the outcome.

But what we don’t know is what went through Wells’ head when he made that call.  After the game, he tried to explain his thought process.

"“At the end, it was always battling, trying to get back into the two-score range,” Wells said.  “When we scored to get down 11, we went for two.  Down nine.  Now we know that a touchdown and a field goal can win the game.  And then, unfortunately, just missed a field goal down there at the end. “Got it into a good range, right there…39-yarder.  Just, unfortunately, missed it.  And that’s that.”"

But what drives me and many fans crazy about this decision was that he put his trust in a kicker who doesn’t deserve it.  Perhaps if he had an All-American kicker at his disposal, his decision to try the field goal early might have made sense.

However, Trey Wolff is now just 1-5 on the season and at times this year, Tech has specifically called plays to avoid asking him to make kicks of a similar distance.  So why not take the extra two plays and try to get him closer, if you are indeed married to the idea of the FG on that drive?  It makes no sense to ask a kicker with a case of the yips to try a nearly 40-yard kick on the road in a pressure situation.

"“It may have been a down early,” Wells later admitted.  “But we said we wanted to go down and try to kick a field goal, try to score a touchdown.  We know we needed to have time left, we had to stop them on the back end, so we got Trey down into range where we wanted it, got inside the 25.  So a 39-yard field goal, which is in the range. “Where he’s at right now, we understand that he hasn’t made one all year [until the second quarter of the TCU game that is]…it may have been a down early but we got to kick a field goal on either the first or the second possession…”"

While Wells’ math adds up, his logic doesn’t.  What I left out of those remarks for the sake of time is that he admitted that Tech hadn’t even attempted a FG since the Kansas State game, which was three games prior.  So trusting your shaky kicker to make a long kick late in a winnable game when you could have set him up for better success by moving the ball closer is just inexplicable.

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