Texas Tech Football: 5 Fixes Matt Wells’ must make in first season

4. Becoming a more balanced offensive team

Texas Tech is still best equipped as a passing team after years of recruiting players to run the air-raid system, but there will be a shift in offensive philosophy under Matt Wells. The shift will be for the better, allowing the Red Raiders to find some balance offensively instead of being so heavily tilted toward the pass.

Texas Tech ranked 99th in rushing S&P+ last season. The team’s leading rusher was actually backup QB Jett Duffey. No running back eclipsed more than 350 yards on the ground this season, something that will have to change if they want to have the balance that Wells covets in his offenses.

This season at Utah State, the Aggies ranked 20th in passing S&P+ and 21st in rushing S&P+. They boasted a 3500 yard passer in Jordan Love and two rushers who managed over 800 yards on the ground.

There’s some talent in the backfield already on the roster with rising junior Da’Leon Ward and rising sophomore Ta’Zhawn Henry.

There could be an interesting QB competition in Lubbock over the offseason. Rising sophomore Alan Bowman is the better fit in the previous scheme, and will be the front-runner to take the job in 2019, but Jett Duffey’s dual-threat ability could add an interesting wrinkle to Wells’ offense, allowing them to move further toward the balance he seeks on offense in year one.

The issue with the air-raid in Lubbock, at least under Kingsbury, was the inability to adapt to circumstances when things weren’t going right in the passing game. Finding a running back to lean on when the QB is off is paramount, and I expect it will be one of Wells’ main focuses in year one.