Texas Tech football: Alan Bowman remains hospitalized with collapsed lung

Alan Bowman remains in the hospital for the second time in just over a month because of a collapsed lung causing the Texas Tech football team to prepare for life without its starting quarterback once again.

The unfortunate theme of the 2018 Texas Tech football season looks like it is going to be quarterback injuries.  For the third time this year, Kliff Kingsbury had to turn to his backup quarterback Saturday night when Alan Bowman was unable to play in the second half against OU.

For the second time this year, the Red Raiders’ starting quarterback was knocked out of a game with a collapsed lung.

Bowman sustained the injury on a first-down run near the OU goal line at the end of the second quarter.  After being hit near the pylon, Bowman remained on the ground for a moment before returning to the field.  He would complete the drive, handing the ball off to Da’Leon Ward on the ensuing play for a Texas Tech touchdown.

But when Bowman went to warm up for the second half, he was unable to catch his breath causing him to miss the remainder of the game.  Though Bowman was cleared to play and ruled 100% healthy by doctors, he was more susceptible to a reoccurrence of the injury, which was first sustained late in the first half of the Red Raiders’ September 29th game against West Virginia.

And as was the case in the West Virginia game, backup quarterback Jett Duffey was unable to lead his team to a win in relief of Bowman.  Now, Texas Tech fans anxiously await news about the status of the true freshman who leads the Big 12 in passing yards per game.

Sunday, Kingsbury met with the media to provide an update.  He said that Bowman remained hospitalized but that the injury was not as severe as it was the first time around.

"“Hopefully, it should be a quicker recovery and we’ll go from there.” Kingsbury said."

The first occurance of this injury caused Bowman to miss only one game, the October 11th Thursday night game against TCU, which Tech won 17-14.  It is important to remember that the Red Raiders had the benefit of an off week following the West Virginia game giving Bowman an extra week to heal and allowing him to return after only one game.

But this time, Tech does not have that luxury as the Texas Longhorns come to Lubbock Saturday night.  The Red Raiders then head to Kansas State before playing Baylor in Arlington, Texas to close out the regular season.

More from Wreck'Em Red

• Texas Tech football: Red Raider fans need to know about these Mountaineers
• Texas Tech football: Red Raiders land first commit for class of 2025
• Texas Tech football: Why have the Red Raiders struggled on the road under McGuire?
• Texas Tech football: Why the Red Raiders can compete for a Big 12 title
• Texas Tech football: Plenty of questions remain as conference play arrives

But given the fact that Bowman remained hospitalized on Sunday evening and the fact that this is his second hospitalization in just over a month, it would be wise for Red Raider fans to get ready for at least one more Jett Duffey start.

This year, the redshirt sophomore has thrown for 627 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions on 48 of 80 passing (60%).  Many fans are concerned about Duffey’s lack of effectiveness through the air as his completion percentage is 9.4 points lower than Bowman’s.

Most troubling is Duffey’s tenancy to throw interceptions having tossed just three fewer than Bowman despite attempting 247 fewer passes.  To put it another way, Bowman has thrown one pick per every 46.7 passes while Duffey has thrown one pick per every 20 passes.

However, it must be noted that Duffey has seen the vast majority of his playing time in back-up situations.  He has made only one start, attempting 24 passes in that game, while the rest of his action has come in games where the game plan was not tailored to his strengths and on weeks when he did not receive the majority of the practice repetitions.

But it looks as if Duffey will get his second career start in this week’s critical home finale.  With Bowman still hospitalized and junior quarterback McLane Carter still not fully recovered from a high ankle sprain, the Red Raiders hopes for a strong finish to the season now ride on Duffey’s ability to rise to the occasion.