Texas Tech’s Frosh QB Alan Bowman Gives OSU Defense Unique Challenge

This week’s quarterback comparison lines up a couple of Texas products who are both just getting their feet wet as Big 12 starters, but their paths to playing time couldn’t be more different.

Taylor Cornelius is the fifth-year senior and career backup who is finally getting his crack at QB1. Alan Bowman is the true freshman who was ushered into action in Week 1 due to injury, but seems to have a firm grasp the reins of Tech’s offense after two starts.

Cornelius had zero offers coming out of Bushland High School, but had an opportunity to walk on in Lubbock, the school he rooted for. Bowman earned offers from the likes of Illinois and Ole Miss, but was hardly viewed as your classic blue-chipper. The gunslinger out of Grapevine High School came in as the No. 37 pro-style QB for last year’s class. Both appear to have been bargains based on recruiting rankings to this point.

Here’s a look at the numbers for Cornelius and Bowman.

Bowman is 18th in ESPN’s QBR and Cornelius is up to No. 11 with his 82.3 rating. But Bowman leads the Big 12 and is second nationally with 386.7 yards per game, despite not starting in Week 1.

That’s largely due to a Big 12 freshman record 605-performance last week (which he stole from Pat Mahomes) to go along with five touchdowns in the 63-49 win over Houston.

Bowman’s 887 yards and 7-0 TD-to-INT ratio edged Baker Mayfield out of the top 5 in terms of top performances through first two starts according to Texas Tech. Even more impressive has been Bowman’s ability to take care of the ball.

“They’ve got a young quarterback who is throwing it around and has come along,” said Mike Gundy. “He’s a really good player. This league will be disappointed to see him for the next three or four years, or however long it’ll be.

“He seems to understand their system and looks like he gets it. They’re moving the ball and scoring lots of points.”

Junior linebacker Calvin Bundage, who will try to get up close and person with Bowman, has noticed the buzz around the true frosh.

“I’ve seen him put up a lot of points,” said Bundage. “I think it’s going to be an interesting game.”

To prevent another gaudy-numbered performance by Bowman, OSU will try to get to the young QB before he can distribute the ball to his playmakers like junior Antoine Wesley, the Big 12’s leading receiver. OSU was able to pressure Boise State’s Brett Rypien seemingly at will last week, but that hasn’t proven to be easy against Bowman so far this year.

Tech has only allowed one sack so far this year, which leads the conference and is tied for No. 4 nationally. A lot of that has to do with a veteran O-Line that returned five starters from a year ago. But a lot that also comes from Tech’s offense which is predicated on getting rid of the ball fast, and moving at a more of break-neck speed than what Boise showed the Cowboy defense.

“Texas Tech brings a no-huddle,” said Bundage. “Boise State had a huddle at times, you kind of see the formation (before the play). Texas Tech doesn’t have a huddle and they go fast and that’s the type of game they want to play. We know what they are going to do, I think we will be ready for them.”

Along with Bundage, redshirt junior Jordan Brailford will look to follow up a dominant performance last week with plenty of trips to the Tech backfield.

“They like to move the ball fast, get a lot of plays in, it’s going to be well over 100 plays,” said Brailford. “We’ve just got to get used to it during the week, just going fast getting ready for the tempo.”

Texas Tech’s offense may present different challenges than Boise State’s — and Bowman appears to be a gamer —  but Oklahoma State’s defense is several notches above Houston, and in a different stratosphere than Lamar.

The Red Raiders appear to have themselves a QB, but it’s early. A conference opener on the road is a lot for any true freshman, but this will be his biggest game atmosphere to date.