Though most of the focus of Texas Tech football fans has been on the quarterback position since losing Alan Bowman, the reality is that this team has much larger problems.
Entering the 2019 Texas Tech football season, we believed that Matt Wells could put together a strong debut campaign because of Alan Bowman. The sophomore QB was set to lead the Red Raider offense after missing the final three games of 2018 with his second collapsed lung of the season.
But that advantage went out the window after just three games. After landing awkwardly on his left shoulder in the Arizona game, Bowman is out for at least another month turning Tech’s perceived QB advantage into a true deficit.
With Bowman running the show, Tech could go into almost every game this year feeling like the talent at the game’s most critical position was either in the Red Raiders’ favor or at least a tossup. Of course, that’s no longer the situation.
On Saturday, Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts could have thrown the ball better with his left foot than either of the QBs that attempted a pass for Tech could with their right arms. While Jett Duffey was noticeably better than Jackson Tyner, he did not look like the second coming of Peyton Manning.
Now, Duffey appears to be the clear-cut starter until Bowman returns. In each of the next three games, Tech will have to make up for a likely deficit at QB.
Oklahoma State’s Spencer Sanders has to be considered better than Duffey at this point. Though the redshirt freshman is still figuring out how to navigate the Big 12 as a starter, he’s got tons of talent and may be the most athletic QB Tech will see all year.
Baylor’s junior QB Charlie Brewer is nothing special in my book but he is far more accomplished and experienced than Duffey. Brewer is completing 66% of his passes and has 10 touchdown passes an no picks this year for one of the highest-scoring teams in the country.
Meanwhile, Iowa State will come to town with Brock Purdy at the helm of its offense. This year, he’s completed 69% of his passes while throwing for more than 1,300 yards with eight TDs and only two interceptions.
You could argue that the next time Tech will have an advantage at QB will be in four weeks when the Red Raiders travel to Lawrence to face Kansas. The next week, West Virginia will host Tech in a matchup that will probably see neither team start a QB that no other program in the Big 12 would consider starting.
Perhaps by then, Bowman will be ready to return. After the West Virginia game, Tech hosts TCU and Kansas State before heading to Austin to finish the season.
If Duffey can’t guide his team to a couple of wins before Bowman heals, it may be smarter for Tech to redshirt Bowman than play him and risk yet another injury when a bowl birth is out of reach. And Tech fans have a right to be concerned about whether this team is built to survive without its best offensive player.
Unfortunately, what we’ve seen from some other key position groups this year leaves little confidence in the rest of the team to rally around its backup QB and stay afloat. It is true that Duffey is not as good as we would like, but what is more troubling is that the other position groups on this team are also below par even though they are relatively injury-free.
The biggest problems this team faces are not at the QB position. What we are seeing at the following positions is what is really keeping this team from being competitive thus far.