Oklahoma State QB Alan Bowman Ranks in the Top 10 Nationally in Passing

The hot start to Alan Bowman’s seventh year of college football might not be getting talked about enough.

Bowman was Oklahoma State’s star man in the Cowboys’ 45-10 win against Tulsa on Saturday. The Orange Baron threw for 396 yards and five touchdowns in about three quarters of work. That brings Bowman’s season total in passing yards to 967, which ranks sixth nationally.

What makes what Bowman is doing especially cool is that this stretch has come against a tough nonconference slate. He threw for 245 against an FCS team that hadn’t lost in nearly two seasons. He threw for 326 against an SEC team. And then against what, at this point, is considered the worst team the Cowboys have faced, Bowman went off for 396 yards and five scores.

“I think it was just taking what the defense gives you,” said Bowman of his performance in Tulsa. “Obviously we have the best running back in the country, and everybody knows that. So they’re gonna do everything that they can to stop him, so that gives us favorable matchups on the outside and those guys made some plays.”

Here is the Top 10 in passing yards through three weeks:

(Is the Big 12 a passing league again?)

With OSU having this exciting nonconference schedule and the Cowboys’ struggles in the run game, Bowman’s start feels like it’s getting lost in the shuffle. Here is a look at OSU’s passing leaders through three games the past 10 seasons (excluding 2020 because OSU played only one nonconference game that season) sorted by passing yards:

First of all, Mason Rudolph was elite.

The bottom three of this list shows just how chaotic OSU’s quarterback position has been some years. Daxx Garman coming in for an injured J.W. Walsh in 2014. Shane Illingworth playing in place of Spencer Sanders (COVID) during OSU’s 2021 season opener before OSU went on to win the Fiesta Bowl that year. Then Bowman in the three-man rotation in 2023.

But we’re getting off topic — back to Bowman this season. There have been some comparisons made between Bowman and Taylor Cornelius, and this chart highlights that comparison. Cornelius’ season as a starter saw him throw for more yards in those first three games, but Cornelius did have one fewer touchdown and one more interception.

Cornelius was a polarizing quarterback within the fanbase (and on this website). But while people were arguing whether the Sanders era should get off to an early start during a year in which the Pokes finished 7-6, Cornelius was slinging the pill all around the yard. He finished that season with 3,978 passing yards, which ranked fourth in the nation that year. Dwayne Haskins, Gardner Minshew, Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa joined Cornelius in the top five. What company.

Bowman has, at times, been similarly polarizing. Some of that was brought on with the three-quarterback rotation of 2023, where fans essentially had the opportunity to pick their favorite guy. Some more of that had to do with Bowman’s INT struggles last season, where he threw 15 TDs to 14 interceptions. But still, Bowman led OSU to 10 wins and a Big 12 title appearance.

Now that the hurt of the six losses of that 2018 season is subsiding, more people are looking back more fondly on what Cornelius brought to the Cowboys that season. I guess this is a call to say let’s enjoy this run from Bowman while it’s happening.