Texas Tech football: Record days from Bowman and Wesley spark Red Raiders
The Texas Tech football team defeated Houston Saturday in Lubbock thanks in large part to record-setting performances from Alan Bowman and Antoine Wesley.
The future is now for the Texas Tech football program and its name is Alan Bowman. The true freshman quarterback cemented his hold on the starting quarterback position Saturday with a record-setting performance in a 63-49 win over Houston that now has Red Raider fans uttering comparisons to Pat Mahomes and Graham Harrell.
Setting a Big 12 freshman record with 605 yards passing to go along with five touchdown passes, the Grapevine, Texas product also put to bed the 2018 Texas Tech quarterback competition in just his third collegiate appearance. With game-one starter McLane Carter still a spectator due to a sprained ankle and sophomore and former fan favorite Jett Duffey a spectator in full pads, Bowman served notice to the entire Texas tech fan base that he is the present and future of the program.
Playing with the type of poise, swagger and command of the offense that is usually only seen in veteran QBs, Bowman led the Red Raiders to the kind of shootout win that has become synonymous with Texas Tech football.
Completing 43 of 59 passes without throwing an interception against a defense that features on of the game’s most dominant defensive linemen in Ed Oliver, Bowman and the Red Raider offense railed from an uneven start to score touchdowns on five-consecutive drives in the second and third quarters after Houston took a 21-14 lead.
And the beneficiary of Bowman’s big day was sophomore wide receiver Antoine Wesley. With 261 yards on 13 receptions, the Las Vegas native set a Texas Tech single-game record for receiving yards to go along with three touchdowns.
Coming into Saturday, Wesley had just 289 yards receiving in his career, a mere 28 more than he put up in four quarters against Houston. His first impact play came on a comeback route on which he broke two tackles before racing 58 yards to the end zone to tie the game at 14-14 in the first quarter.
Wesley would again tie the game on his next touchdown reception, a 6-yard grab in the second quarter to knot the game at 28-28. His final TD, a 33-yard reception in the 4th quarter slammed the door on Houston by putting the Red Raiders up 63-42 with 3:49 to play. It was a fitting cap on a performance in which Wesley eclipsed Joel Filani’s 255-yard performance against Kansas State in 2005.
And on that play, Bowman surpassed Mahomes’ 598-yard 2014 game against Baylor to set a new Big 12 freshman record. Any comparison to Mahomes is pure flattery and though Bowman plays a different style than the 2017 top-10 NFL Draft pick, his meteoric rise to stardom in his first season has made many reference Mahomes’ 2014 season.
As for the comparisons to Graham Harrell who led the Red Raiders during the historic 2008 season, it was a moment after his last TD pass in which Bowman may have unknowingly channeled his inner Harrell. Following the perfect throw to Wesley, Bowman flexed and waved good bye to the Houston sideline goading his opponent the same way Harrell did so often a decade ago.
Next. Texas Tech has dominated UH series for nearly three decades. dark
With the win, Texas Tech moved to 2-1 on the season ahead of a brutal three-game stretch against Oklahoma State, West Virginia and TCU to open Big 12 play. But perhaps more importantly, the Red Raiders found the quarterback to lead the program for the foreseeable future.