Texas Tech football: 5 worst moments of 2020 season

No. 4: The failed 4th down against HBU

Perhaps the most symbolic play of the 2020 season came in the opener, a 35-33 “win” against Houston Baptist.  Of course, the only play that the majority of Red Raider fans will remember from that game is the ill-fated 4th-down QB sneak that nearly cost the Red Raiders the game.

At the time, Tech led 35-27 with just five-and-a-half minutes to play while facing a 4th-and-2 at the Husky 4-yard line.  Thus, the prudent call would have been to put the field goal team on to make it an 11-point game.

We all know that Alan Bowman was stuffed and that HBU would take over and drive the ball 97 yards to pull to within two points.  Ultimately, their failed 2-point conversion would help Tech preserve the so-called victory but never has a game that saw the Red Raiders end with more points than their opponent felt more like a loss.

But let’s avoid the temptation to analyze once again Wells’ moronic decision to go for it on 4th down.  Rather, let’s talk about the fact that this play was symbolic of just where this program is under Wells.

Spare us the excuses that Tech was dealing with significant COVID-19 issues at the time or that HBU had already played one game at that time.  The fact that this game came down to a 4th-quarter situation where Wells felt he had to gamble to put away an FCS program was more telling of the state of the program than anything we would see all year.

It was an embarrassing performance as the Huskies pushed Tech to the brink of humiliation.  And way we felt about the simple fact that this game for a moment hinged on a critical 4th-quarter call represented just how poorly we all felt about where things stand in year two of the Wells era.