Matt Wells addressed the media on Monday as the Red Raiders begin prep for a road trip to Arizona in what should be the biggest test of the season so far in Wells' inaugural Texas Tech coaching season.

Here is what was said about the competition ahead.

- In his opening statement Wells said he was thankful for the crowd showing up and staying longer this week. He wants that to take the next step in the team's return home once conference play starts. He added they will continue to do their part in putting a good product on the field.

- Wells said he is very familiar with Khalil Tate, the Arizona dual-threat quarterback. Wells said this offense will be the best they've seen so far. This is set to be a big test for a Texas Tech defense that has allowed on average 6.5 points per game through two contests.

Wells added Tate's ability to pull the ball on a triple option is more of a rushing threat than any other quarterback.

"He's a threat. A plus-one run game is a major, major threat. It makes you as a defense ... rethink all your pressures, pressure packages so you're always sound against the option."

- On the Wildcat defense, Wells mentioned Tony Fields II and Colin Schooler, both linebackers, as the two that makes the defense go. He said watching their tape over the summer, and now, you can see that defensive coordinator Marcel Yates has those two backers to build around.

- Coach Wells and Arizona coach Kevin Sumlin go back some time. However, a good chunk of this coaching staff have ties to the Arizona coaches through previous jobs like Keith Patterson going up against offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone when Patterson was in the PAC 12 at UCLA.

- Wells said if you let the Arizona game turn into a track meet then you can get in trouble with how fast their offense operates. He said they know one day the defense might struggle so they'll learn to go punch-for-punch with an opposing offense if needed. He wants them to be adaptable whether it's offensively, defensively or on special teams. He emphasized the importance of one unit stepping up around the other to build a successful program.

- On his own player freshman Tony Bradford recording his first sack last week:

"Tony's played well in practice. I think we mentioned him late in August as really one of the highlights of the freshman class that was coming out in training camp. Just missed the first week, good to see him. He's an active player. Reminds you of 53 (Eli Howard) a little bit, just by how hard he plays the game, plays passionate. Really hard worker, cares about the game ... knows how to practice ... which makes him a little bit mature beyond his years being 18 years old ..."

- Staying on his defense, Wells said he's most impressed with their ability to hold teams to three-and-outs. He gave credit to the tackles for losses early in series to setting up those hard to make first downs for opponents.

"Putting the first two opponents behind the chains and it changes their second down calls. They're trying to get half the call then all of a sudden you've got teams in third and medium and now coach Patterson has the whole playbook ... Proud of our defense. I think they've given up four third down conversions each game. (That's correct.)

- Right now, QB Alan Bowman in his first year under coach David Yost is "probably calling more now than two years ago when we installed this offense. I don't know how it would be compared to coach Yost's quarterbacks in the year's that he's had them but I would say in terms of his play calling leeway, he gets to call a little bit of the game right now."

- Special teams wise there are still things to clean up. Wells said he thought they were better on both aspects of kickoff return and he likes Trey Wolff and Austin McNamara's progressions so far. Wells is wanting to work on his punt defense moving forward.

- As of now Wolff is the field goal kicker but Jonathan Garibay will continue to compete in practice once he's healed from an injury. However, Wolff's game resume and his practice will be taken into consideration when deciding who gets to take those shots.

- Sophomore WR Mark Richardson has won the holder job on field goal duty. Wells said the job is a lot harder than it looks and Richardson has proven to be the best at it. "That's a skill. First of all, you gotta get in an awkward stance to do it, too. I held in high school and college." Wells said he gave everyone the opportunity for the holder job but not many took up that offer.

- The senior offensive lineman won the job at left guard over camp. Since then he's been around a mix of other guys due to injuries. He said younger guys coming up the depth chart was something this coaching staff emphasized early in their tenures. Akamnonu added Wells and offensive line coach Steve Farmer wanted at least 10 guys that were able to be almost positionless amongst the front five.

- As far as Arizona goes, Madison hasn't looked at them a ton but noticed the ability of the Wildcat defensive line to rush the passer and stop the run. Arizona's speed off of the edge will be a test for them this week.

- Dawson Deaton won the center position and has helped with the speed of the offense. He's focused on the communication among the o-line and has been solid so far.

- This up-tempo offense can be a challenge for bigger bodied offensive lineman but not for Travis Bruffy or Terence Steele, according to Akamnonu. Spring ball and the offseason helped them a ton to get used to the speed.

- An away game ritual for him? "Play a lot of Chief Keef on the airplane."