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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 16, 2019

Matt Wells

Lubbock, Texas

TCU - 33, Texas Tech - 31

Q. Missing T.J. again, was that just an extension of the reason he missed against West Virginia?
MATT WELLS: You got it, yep.

Q. And then for Jordan, at what point did you guys kind of realize he wasn't 100 percent?
MATT WELLS: About the middle of the first quarter. I got a lot of respect for No. 1. He cares about Texas Tech. I hope the fans see that and see the passion that he plays with. He wasn't able to practice until extremely late in the week and gave it a go. Just wasn't there. But the guy gives everything he can for Texas Tech football, and I respect that.

Q. Would you talk about Jett's performance today and what you saw from him?
MATT WELLS: Yeah, a little up and down. At times gutsy and courageous and really good, and then at times a tick late on some balls, like the first picks a tick late and then it gets tipped, and I get all that -- you throw the ball enough, you throw it as much as we do, some of those tips are going to happen. That comes with playing the territory. But I think looking at Jett, it's just -- it still can improve fundamentally. He's still loose with the ball in the pocket.

But the guy kept believing. He kept fighting. He got hit more than he's got hit in a long time. He had a good look in his eye, and the pride and the passion that he's trying to play with, I think our other guys see it, and the never-give-up attitude I think kind of started permeating the rest of the team as the first half wore on.

Obviously the big touchdown he throws, huge catch by RJ kind of got us a shot in the arm, kind of got us back into it.

Q. Jett and Dalton had a pretty good chemistry the last several weeks in particular. When he got knocked out of the game, how did that change the way you guys attacked them offensively?
MATT WELLS: Well, you still have to throw your stuff because it's still based on -- it's not so much a personnel based, but it's still based on coverage and the looks that you're getting, and there were times that we still had throws to the H, we just couldn't get them completed.

Q. Do you think that kind of changed, I guess, the path of the game? It just seemed like --
MATT WELLS: I'm not sure it changes the path of the game because we still tried to get the ball to RJ and EZ, and I don't think one person can change the course of the game, with much respect to Dalton and what he's done. But the passing game was not all centered around him.

Q. Any update on --
MATT WELLS: No, I haven't gotten one yet.

Q. Only nine rushes for your running backs. Was that a situation going into the game you kind of knew that that was a position you were short at or was that something that evolved in the game?
MATT WELLS: Yeah, we are short there, obviously, because of injuries, and even the two guys that are playing with the injuries that they had, and Ta'Zhawn, again, in the middle of the game. But I think it was maybe probably due to the fact it was 24-3 right out of the gate. Or 17-0, two scores. We thought there were seams in the defense and in the coverage, and we found some of those, and that was kind of what was getting us back in the game, truth be told.

Q. You mentioned the early big deficit. Seemed like kind of a slow start, similar to the Iowa State game. Why do you think the team started off slow today?
MATT WELLS: I don't know. You know, offensively it was like shot, play, one or two -- and we hadn't had many of these, but it was like one or two administrative penalties just kind of got us behind the chains, and then on defense, point to one thing; it was 3rd down on defense the first two, three series.

Q. Could you talk about your pass protection and TCU's defensive quickness?
MATT WELLS: Yeah, they're athletic up front. Those ends, especially the young kid, 32, is really good. I'll tell you, I thought we protected well, but here's what started happening as the game started wearing on, the integrity of the pocket started creeping in on Jett a little bit and we started losing some of the integrity of that pocket, and that's 90 and 94 inside with the push, and we got to be stronger there in the pocket.

I'm going to tell you what started this because we weren't getting open because then Jett starts hanging on to the ball, and that pocket is exposed. But he had enough time to throw it multiple times. We fought our way back in in the passing game, so we did protect him well enough to do it. He did get hit more than I would like, but I think that was what got us back in the game was the passing game.

Q. It seemed like you went for two with about 13 minutes left in the third quarter. Was that the importance of getting within field goal range --
MATT WELLS: Field goal range?

Q. Within a field goal, sorry.
MATT WELLS: No, and that's a little early -- that's one of the earlier times I've ever started going for two. But at that point, we weren't stopping them on defense at that point, and I thought it was really going to get into a score-fest. I thought this thing was going to keep going like a tennis match.

And then really after we didn't convert that, we started playing better defense and forcing -- we forced a three-and-out. I think we forced a field goal on the next drive. So you know, I'm not second-guessing myself, but at that point we had not stopped them on defense, and I thought we needed to get that score right back to where it needed to be, so we were in striking range.

Q. Time of possession and the quick strike by the other team, amazing effort you guys stayed in the game until the very end.
MATT WELLS: I think it's all a tribute to their heart and their passion, I think the effort they played with in the second half. We've got a bunch of dudes now, I can't tell you, there was three or four times that I see a guy that needs a blow, and there was a coach saying, stay in. I mean, stay in. And guys just -- I thought the grit that they showed is something that I want this program to always be about, and I'm not going to apologize for losing in the fourth quarter, okay. Fight our butt back and continue to believe in the passion and the pride that I think they keep playing with. We've got to play better. I know that. We've got to heal up and we've got to execute better, especially on offense early. We cannot get us in that deficit and executing on defense, and on 3rd down -- we were so poor in the first quarter on 3rd down, and then okay, guys, we didn't fold the tent.

That's one thing that I've promised everybody here is how we're going to play, how we're going to be prepared, and then the pride and the passion that we're going to continue to fight with and play with, and I can win with that. I can coach this. I can coach these guys. That locker room is still fighting and clawing. They're not very healthy right now and we're not very deep, but we're going to keep fighting. There's two left. Big game next week, obviously, senior day, and we're going to do everything we can to send those seniors out as winners.

Q. (Indiscernible) got you with a chance for a field goal, 33-31 with the ball with about 5:38 to go, a chance to go (indiscernible) and you go three-and-out?
MATT WELLS: Yeah, I just need to get inside of 30 yard line. My man Wolff was going to split them. That's all I was thinking. We had thrown the ball well, we had moved it, and there it goes.

Q. Can you elaborate on Jordan's injury?
MATT WELLS: It's just an upper body injury.

Q. Following up on T.J., what's his status going forward?
MATT WELLS: Indefinite right now. To be determined this week.

Q. Still on the team?
MATT WELLS: Absolutely, yep, absolutely still on the team.

Q. In the second half Alex Hogan was in for Damarcus --
MATT WELLS: Played his butt off. I thought he played his tail off.

Q. And later, fourth quarter you guys had Alex Hogan there and (indiscernible).
MATT WELLS: Tony Bradford was playing D-end, yep. A lot of true freshmen on the field there in the critical moments of the game.

Q. In the secondary was (indiscernible) Damarcus giving up a big play, giving up a big play or two. Was that just trying to keep guys fresher?
MATT WELLS: Well, Fields went down with an injury and was able to come back and played the last parts of the last series. You know, DBs got to have a different mindset. It's kind of like a relief pitcher. If you come in the game and give up a home run right out of the gate, you'd better keep your intensity and your mental focus and you've got to move on to the next play. There's going to be times DBs give up shots. They know that. They signed up to play on an island, and they know that just as much as anybody, and they've got to be strong mentally. You've got to get back in there and play another down and play another snap. That's how the DBs' mentality always needs to be. But we were getting banged up back there, and that's why Hogan went in, and then he played well. He did. Proud of him.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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