Texas Tech football: Game balls for victory over Baylor

Bowman made the most of his opportunity

When Alan Bowman was benched three games ago, he had two choices, disengage and sulk or stay prepared for another opportunity.  It’s now obvious that he took the latter of those routes and that served him well on Saturday.

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

While there’s going to be a contingency of the fan base that will never trust Bowman to be this team’s starting QB, everyone has to give him credit for the resiliency he showed against Baylor.  He didn’t let the pick-six that he threw on his first pass attempt of the game ruin his evening and when he had the chance to carry his team to a win, that’s what he did.

Remember last year when Tech needed a QB to lead game-winning scoring drives against Baylor, Kansas, TCU, and Kansas State, and in every one of those games, that didn’t happen?  It was in those moments that we bemoaned the fact that Jett Duffey couldn’t orchestrate wins in the clutch and we cried for Bowman’s return because we assumed he would be able to make winning plays late in games.  Finally, that’s what he did and it was the first time a Tech QB had led a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter since Duffey’s TD run against TCU in Fort Worth two seasons ago.

While 2020 didn’t quite unfold the way Bowman or the fan base anticipated as Bowman lost his starting job, there’s still an opportunity for him to end the year on an upswing and give the coaching staff something to think about when it comes to next year’s QB battle.

Going 14/23 for 181 yards and a TD, Bowman gave the offense a spark and he played more confidently in this game than he did the last time we saw him when he looked gunshy and flustered against Iowa State.  It couldn’t have been easy for Bowman to lose his job and it had to be challenging for him to act like a professional and stay engaged but that’s what he did and for that, as much as for anything he did on Saturday night, he deserves a game ball.