Mike Gundy Names Alan Bowman Starter for Kansas State Game

STILLWATER — Mike Gundy was quiet on his quarterback situation at his Monday media luncheon, but a few hours later, Gundy publicly named a starter for the first time this season ahead of a gameday.

On his weekly radio show with Dave Hunziker, Gundy proclaimed Alan Bowman will start Oklahoma State’s 6:30 p.m. Friday kick against Kansas State. This comes after Bowman became the first OSU quarterback to play a full game in OSU’s 34-27 loss to Iowa State ahead of the Cowboys’ bye week.

“Bowman played pretty good last week, overall,” Gundy said on the radio show. “He was able to function because we covered guys up in the running game, and we protected pretty well. And I thought he played good enough to come back and get the start. Then we’ll just watch from there.

“He gets about 60% of the [first-team reps] now, and the other two split [the remaining reps] in practice. But he played pretty good in the game overall, so I don’t feel like he would do anything in practice now that would make us change that way.”

Against the Cyclones, Bowman completed 48% of his passes and threw for 278 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also threw a pair of interceptions.

That marked the second consecutive week the Cowboys had completed fewer than 50% of their passes, but the 278 yards Bowman threw for were the most the Pokes had thrown for since their Week 1 win against FCS Central Arkansas.

“As you saw against Iowa State, there was probably more throw aways than everyone would have liked to see,” Bowman said after Monday’s practice. “The completion percentage wasn’t great. But the many years I’ve been playing, I kinda understand what defenses are trying to do, and then I take that talent and ability that I’ve always had — I’ve always had a quick release to be able to get the ball out of my hands quickly — then when the pocket is gonna collapse, I’ll get it out of my hand quick instead of take a sack.

“I think that’s one advantage that my training can do is when stuff breaks down either get out of the pocket and make a play or throw it away and we’ll get back to 2nd-and-10, 3rd-and-10, not make a bad play worse.”

Perhaps more importantly than his individual stats, the Cowboys’ offense looked to be the smoothest it has been all season with 409 yards of total offense, the most OSU has put up since the Central Arkansas game.