Wreck'Em Red
Fansided

Texas Tech football: How Alan Bowman stacked up against other FR QBs in 2018

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - OCTOBER 20: Alan Bowman #10 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders calls signals at the line of scrimmage during the first half of the game against the Kansas Jayhawks on October 20, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - OCTOBER 20: Alan Bowman #10 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders calls signals at the line of scrimmage during the first half of the game against the Kansas Jayhawks on October 20, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 6
Next
(Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
(Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /

USC’s JT Daniels

Another 5-star QB that assumed the reins of his team right away last fall was JT Daniels at USC.  Rated the No. 2 QB in the nation last year, the California native started eleven games for the Trojans.

Overall, he passed for 2,672 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions in what was a decent but not spectacular first season.  And what’s more, he put up fewer yards and touchdowns than Bowman despite playing in three more games.

Daniels averaged 238.8 yards per game, 90 fewer than Tech’s freshman phenom.  In addition, his passer rating of 128.6 was 22 points lower than Bowman’s.

Only three times last season did Daniels throw for 300 yards in a game.  Meanwhile, Bowman managed that feat four times in eight games.  And the 227 yards Bowman passed for in the first half against Oklahoma were more than the USC signal-caller had in five games in 2018.

Had Bowman been healthy, we would have been able to compare his and Daniels’ performances against Texas, which beat USC in the season’s third game.  But we can compare what Tech’s third-string QB did to Daniels’ showing versus the Horns.

In his best game of the year, Duffey threw for 444 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 80 yards and throwing only one interception against a UT defense that held Daniels to 322 yards and no TD passes while also forcing an interception.  Completing 77.4% of his passes, Duffey led his team to 34 points against the same team that kept Daniels and the Trojans to just 14 points as Daniels completed a pedestrian 62% of his passes in Austin.

Trojan fans are frustrated with their head coach Clay Helton, who finds himself squarely on the hot seat this August.  To help get the most out of his sophomore QB, he has attempted to turn to a pair of former Red Raider greats.

Prior to getting hired as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, Kliff Kingsbury was USC’s offensive coordinator for about as long as it takes to wax a surfboard.  When he skipped town, Helton turned to North Texas OC Graham Harrell, who is the Red Raiders’ all-time leading passer.

If Harrell can do for Daniels what Kingsbury did for Bowman in 2018, Helton will save his job.  It’s quite fascinating to see one of the blue-blood programs in the nation have to turn to Red Raiders to try to get their 5-star QB to the level of Tech’s starting QB, who was rated 883 spots lower in the 2018 signing class.

Home/Texas Tech Football