Returning players will have less time to work out the kinks
This year, Texas Tech will be depending heavily on several players returning from serious injuries. Most notably is QB Alan Bowman. If Tech doesn’t have non-conference games, then those Red Raiders had better be ready to play at their best in their first game since early last fall.
Think most about what that means for Bowman. After being sidelined for the last nine games of 2019, no player on the roster could stand to benefit from three non-conference games to begin the year than the redshirt sophomore.
The last time we saw Bowman, he looked awful. Completing only 54.5% of his passes against Arizona, he was picked off two times and had only one TD pass in a 28-14 loss.
What’s more, he’s played in only five Big 12 games. And when you consider that he left two of those contests at halftime, he’s technically only got four games of Big 12 experience.
Making matters worse, he’s had only three opportunities to play a game for Wells and his offensive coordinator David Yost. Thus, the non-conference games in 2020 were going to be perfect opportunities for him to get back into the rhythm of being a starting QB and to play in live games while operating a system that he’s got precious little experience in.
Compounding this issue is that Bowman and his teammates had only four spring workouts before the pandemic shut down that critical portion of the football calendar. Thus, Bowman could enter Big 12 play having not taken a meaningful snap in over a calendar year and having had no spring to boot. For a player who has so much riding on his shoulders, that’s less than ideal.