Quarterback to Back: What West Virginia’s Garrett Greene Has Going for Him in Matchup with Oklahoma State’s Alan Bowman

If the Cowboys want to finally get a Big 12 win, they’ll likely need to win the QB battle. But that’s not been something we’ve been able to count on so far this season.

Alan Bowman has gotten objectively outplayed in three of Oklahoma State’s five games this season. The last two resulted in OSU losses. This weekend, Bowman will square off with a quarterback in West Virginia’s Garrett Greene who is far from perfect. But what he is, is dangerous on the ground, and what he’s done is find a way to win at least one of those conference games in which he could have been seen as the heel.

Whichever of the two quarterbacks plays the better (or at least cleaner) game will go a long way in deciding if the Cowboys can finally chalk one in the conference win column.

Now let’s see what the two have in common and a couple of things that Greene has that Bowman does not. But before we dig into the matchup behind center, let’s take a look at the two QBs’ numbers so far this year.

There’s not much that jumps off the page when glancing at the numbers. Bowman gets the nod in some of the major passing categories like passing yards and TDs, even completion percentage. Though 60% is not exactly efficient. Like Bowman, Greene has had his issues with incompletions and interceptions. But, unlike Bowman, Greene recently showed the ability to overcome them, and he can hurt you on the ground.

That leads us to the first thing that Greene has going for him in his upcoming matchup in Stillwater.

He’s a Run Threat

Of all the things that I didn’t see coming in the first five games of the season, probably at the top of the list is West Virginia’s QB having half as many rushing TDs as Ollie Gordon.

Greene has rushed for over 200 yards and two scores to Bowman’s 11 total yards and none. And Greene is getting better as time goes on. He totaled only five rushing yards against Penn State in the opener but has turned in rushing outings of 68, 49 and 87 over the last three. This should be no surprise to OSU fans. Greene racked up 117 yards against the Cowboys last year, one of three 100-plus yard rushing games he had in 2023.

“You got to stop their quarterback,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said this week. “He’s a good runner. Very similar to what we saw last week.”

So, not much else to say on that one. Greene is an extra man in the box that has to be accounted for. Bowman is a statue, comparatively, and we’ve already seen OSU’s defense get burned by running QBs multiple times this year. I’m still scratching my head about those consecutive QB runs Bowman attempted last week.

Two Seasoned Offensive Lines

While OSU’s seasoned offensive line was the talk of the Big 12 this offseason, West Virginia also returned an experienced group of trenchmen. Their specialty: run-blocking.

Ollie Gordon was the league’s (and nation’s) best rusher last season, but West Virginia had its best rushing offense. CJ Donaldson Jr. and Jaheim White are both back after combining for over 1,600 yards and 15 touchdowns last year, and along with their QB, the trio each average over nine yards per carry so far in 2024.

The Cowboys have caught some flak for their experience-to-output ratio so far this year, especially when it comes to run-blocking, but their big men have kept Bowman clean. That’s where Bowman has the advantage in this matchup.

In five games, Oklahoma State’s offensive line has allowed only one sack so far this season (with a not-so-mobile QB) while Greene has been sacked nine times in just four games. It could be a key factor on Saturday — which could help to mitigate that run threat — if OSU’s defensive front can wreak havoc in the WVU backfield. It should be noted that after recording multiple sacks in their first four games, the Cowboys didn’t record a single sack last week, minus Collin Oliver who is out injured, and against K-State’s dual-threatening QB Avery Johnson.

You Get What You Got

While there are plenty of things to point to that differentiate Bowman and Greene, there’s one thing they share in common. They are what they are this point in their careers. The pocket passer, the nifty run threat. Neither seem to be overly careful with the football, but which will elevate his game with the intangibles?

Gundy earlier this week joked that Greene played against Mason Rudolph. Not quite, though Greene has been in Morgantown since 2020, accounting for one of the few starters in the Big 12 to stay put with one school. He’s worked his way up from backup. He spent two years behind Jarret Doege and then another behind JT Daniels before taking the reins of the offense at the end of 2022. He started every game last season, leading WVU to a 9-4 finish (the best since 2016), including the Mountaineers’ just third bowl win in the last decade.

What OSU’s Got

At this point, we have to state facts. Bowman is the most experienced quarterback on Oklahoma State’s roster — he might be the most experienced quarterback on any roster — but if the Cowboys want to salvage their season, he’s going to have to start playing like it. I’m not going to go scorched earth here, and I don’t pretend to think that a change at QB will make any type of immediate impact for the Cowboys’ season, but any preview of the quarterback matchup that doesn’t end with this point is a non-sequitur.

After not throwing a pick in the season opener against South Dakota State, Bowman threw one each in OSU’s wins over Arkansas and Tulsa, and two each in the Pokes’ losses to Utah and K-State. Greene has also thrown a pair of interceptions in each of his last two outings, but he was able to make up for his with a late TD to secure the win over Kansas.

As I alluded to above, Bowman was able to get away with getting out-quarterbacked against Arkansas’ Taylen Green, thanks to a huge turnover disparity and some timely stops by his defense. He was not so lucky in his last two outings. As long as the Cowboys’ running game is hamstringed — and since their defense has not yet shown to be a world-beater — it’s going to be hard for Bowman to overcome another game in which he’s outplayed by his counterpart.