Texas Tech football: What can we expect from Year 1 of Matt Wells?
By John Scimeca
How will the Red Raiders fare in 2019?
- Week 1: vs. Montana State (Aug. 31)
- Week 2: vs. UTEP (Sept. 7)
- Week 3: at Arizona (Sept. 14)
- Week 4: BYE
- Week 5: at Oklahoma (Sept. 28)
- Week 6: vs. Oklahoma State (Oct. 5)
- Week 7: at Baylor (Oct. 12)
- Week 8: vs. Iowa State (Oct. 19)
- Week 9: at Kansas (Oct. 26)
- Week 10: at West Virginia (Nov. 2)
- Week 11: BYE
- Week 12: vs. TCU (Nov. 16)
- Week 13: vs. Kansas State (Nov. 23)
- Week 14: at Texas (Nov. 29)
Texas Tech faces the most difficult portion of its schedule in the first two months, with daunting road trips to Arizona and Oklahoma preceding several “prove it” Big 12 matchups against Oklahoma State, Baylor and Iowa State, who all finished level with or better than the Red Raiders last year in conference play.
The end of October and November should provide enough winnable opportunities for Texas Tech: a trip to Kansas, a bye week, and home dates with TCU and Kansas State take place during a five-week span late in the season. This stretch, when coupled with the two cupcakes at the beginning of the schedule, could provide the Red Raiders with enough momentum to mark only its second postseason appearance in the last four seasons.
The Friday night post-Thanksgiving showdown on the road against Texas still lacks the pizzazz of the Longhorns-Aggies game which it replaced, but it’s probably the best the Big 12 can muster for a Lone Star state rivalry.
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Prediction: 7-5, 5-4 Big 12
Though the Red Raiders face three difficult road games (Arizona, Oklahoma and Texas), the team will host several mid-tier Big 12 squads in Matt Wells’ first year at the helm. If Bowman continues to develop as a quarterback and the younger wide receivers step up as big-time playmakers, then fans in Lubbock might be able to forget about Kingsbury’s mediocre run as head coach.
Look for Texas Tech to begin the Wells era with a bowl appearance in 2019.