Say What You Will, But Alan Bowman Sort of Loves a Clutch Drive

Throughout his career, Alan Bowman is 9-6 in games decided by one score; as a Cowboy, he is 6-3 in such games.

Bowman retook charge of Oklahoma State’s offense last weekend when Garret Rangel went down with a collarbone injury that will keep him out for the remainder of the year. In that loss to BYU, Bowman led a 17-play, 76-yard drive that took 8:22 off the clock and left the Cowboys with a lead and just over a minute to play before the Cougars quickly stormed down the field to score a game-winning touchdown.

That led to someone on our forum (shoutout OSUgrad) pointing out how, despite Bowman’s struggles, he has led some clutch drives. That led me down this rabbit hole to look at all one-score games that Bowman has quarterbacked.

Two of Bowman’s one-score losses have come this season including that game in Provo where Bowman led the should’ve-been game-winning drive. The other instance was the Utah game, where Bowman (who was pulled and reinserted) led two late touchdown drives to turn a blowout into a game that looked closer than it was.

Before those last two losses, Bowman was on a six-game winning streak in games decided by one score. The most recent of those was the Cowboys’ win against Arkansas.

That win against the Razorbacks went into overtime, but only after Bowman led another should’ve-been game-winning drive. The game was tied at 28 when Bowman and the Cowboys got the ball back with 4:01 to play. This drive was the one where Bowman (#BadBoyBowman) picked up the penalty for shooting the finger guns at the Arkansas bench after a 36-yard completion to Brennan Presley. Bowman ended up going 2-for-2 on that drive for 46 passing yards. Logan Ward hit a go-ahead field goal with 55 second left, but the OSU defense again couldn’t hang on, as Arkansas quickly moved down the field and tied the game with a field goal as time expired. OSU went on to win in the second overtime.

The Arkansas game was quite similar to the Cowboys’ overtime win against BYU in 2023. That game against the Cougars saw Bowman lead an 11-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to take a lead with 53 seconds to play in regulation. Bowman was 5-for-6 on the drive with 54 yards. The OSU defense, again, gave up a game-tying field goal as regulation ended. OSU won in two overtimes.

Bowman also led a game-winning drive against Kansas in 2023. OSU went into the fourth quarter of this game down 32-27. The Cowboys were down 32-30 when they got the ball back with 2:33 left for Bowman to lead a nine-play, 50-yard, go-ahead touchdown drive. The OSU running game was really the catalyst of that drive, but Bowman did have a 19-yard completion to Ollie Gordon. OSU’s defense then got a turnover on downs before OSU kicked a field goal to make it a 39-32 win.

Before his time in Stillwater, Bowman was 3-3 in one-score games at Texas Tech.

He led a game-winning drive against Baylor in 2020, a game he didn’t start in but relieved Henry Colombi. Bowman’s Red Raiders got the ball back with 2:14 to play down 23-21 to the Bears. Bowman went 5-for-7 on the drive, throwing for 58 yards and leading Tech into field-goal range. Tech hit a game-winner as time expired.

Tech’s 2020 season also saw Bowman lead the Red Raiders to 56 points against Texas just to lose in overtime. Bowman led two fourth-quarter touchdown drives against Texas, the first put Tech up 49-41. Then Tech went up 56-41 with 3:13 to play just for Texas to score, recover an onside kick and score again to force overtime. Brutal.

Of the six one-score losses Bowman has been a part of, three included late scores from Bowman’s team just to make the game look a little closer (Utah 2024, OSU 2020 and West Virginia 2018). Then there were the two losses where Bowman led a late scoring drive just for his defense to give up that lead (BYU 2024 and Texas 2020). That leaves one loss where Bowman just didn’t quite have it — Iowa State 2023.

It was the first official game of the OSU Bowman era — coming after three weeks of the three-quarterback rotation. The Cowboys were trailing 34-27 in Ames and got the ball with 2:23 to play. The Cowboys got into ISU territory with less than two minutes to play. Bowman had three straight incompletions before throwing an interception with 1:26 to play on fourth down. But for all the interceptions Bowman has thrown for that to be the only time such a moment has gone awry, that isn’t too shabby.

Bowman has had his struggles throughout his career, certainly. He has 28 passing touchdowns to 23 interceptions at Oklahoma State. But whenever his team has needed a drive late, more often than not, Bowman has delivered in clutch moments.