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Texas Tech football: Tech has had success following 4-win seasons

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - OCTOBER 21: General view of Jones AT&T Stadium before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Iowa State Cyclones on October 21, 2017 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Iowa State defeated Texas Tech 31-13. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
LUBBOCK, TX - OCTOBER 21: General view of Jones AT&T Stadium before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Iowa State Cyclones on October 21, 2017 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Iowa State defeated Texas Tech 31-13. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /
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Quarterback Alan Bowman #10 and wide receiver RJ Turner #2 (Poto by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
Quarterback Alan Bowman #10 and wide receiver RJ Turner #2 (Poto by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

An experienced QB makes a world of difference

One huge similarity between the 1986, 1991, and 2015 seasons is that in all three years, the program had an experienced QB to lead the offense.  That is also expected to be the case this fall.

In 1986 Billy-Joe Tolliver (an eventual four-year starter) was a sophomore with a full year of starting experience under his belt.  In 1991, Robert Hall (also a four-year starter) also entered his sophomore year after taking some lumps as a true freshman.  What’s more, in 2015 Pat Mahomes was handed the reins of the offense as a sophomore after making four starts the previous season.

This year, Alan Bowman will be back as a redshirt sophomore and because of the injuries he’s sustained in his two seasons on campus, he’s played in a total of eleven games, which is essentially one full year.  Therefore, he has the same amount of experience as Tolliver in ’86 and Hall in ’91 and seven more games in the fray than Mahomes did in 2015.

Looking back to 2019, Tech had to rely on Jett Duffey for nine games after Bowman was lost with a shoulder injury in the third game of the year.  When he was thrust into the starting role, he had appeared in just eight games in total, only three of which were starts.

We will say this all offseason…if Bowman comes back and is the Alan Bowman we saw in 2018 when he passed for an average of 403 yards per game in the five contests he started and finished while also throwing for 13 touchdowns and only six interceptions in those five games, this year’s version of the Red Raiders will be markedly improved.

The problem is that Bowman has yet to prove that he can survive a full season unscathed and in 2020, his backup is redshirt freshman Maverick McIvor, who has never taken a snap at the collegiate level and who has been limited to just three quarters of football in the last two seasons because of injuries. Also, it is fair to point out that in games against Power 5 conference teams, Bowman is only 2-2 in games that he didn’t leave with an injury and in all games against Power 5 teams, his TD:INT ratio is just 11:9.

Still, quarterbacks are expected to make significant strides in their sophomore seasons and while Bowman has been in the program for two years, he has as much game experience as a true sophomore so perhaps this will be the year that he emerges as a top-flight QB in the Big 12.  If that happens, it isn’t hard to imagine 2020 producing much more than four wins.

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