Wreck'Em Red
Fansided

Texas Tech football: Offensive position group grades for 2020

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - DECEMBER 05: Offensive lineman Weston Wright #70 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders lines up during the second half of the college football game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Jones AT&T Stadium on December 05, 2020 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - DECEMBER 05: Offensive lineman Weston Wright #70 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders lines up during the second half of the college football game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Jones AT&T Stadium on December 05, 2020 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 5
Next
Nov 28, 2020; Texas Tech Red Raiders quarterback Alan Bowman (10) throws a pass against during a football game against Oklahoma State at Boone Pickens Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bryan Terry-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 28, 2020; Texas Tech Red Raiders quarterback Alan Bowman (10) throws a pass against during a football game against Oklahoma State at Boone Pickens Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bryan Terry-USA TODAY Sports /

QBs: D-

What makes this season’s lack of scoring punch even tougher to explain was that it was the first time since 2017 that the Red Raiders did not have to start a backup QB because of injury.  Sure, Tech did turn to Henry Colombi for four starts but that was because the decision was made to bench starter Alan Bowan.

Prior to this year, Tech had to start at least three different quarterbacks because of injury in each of the past two seasons.  And yet, the offense in those years was still far more productive than the 2020 offense was.

More from Wreck'Em Red

In 2018, Tech managed to put up 485.2 yards per game (12th nationally), and in 2019, the offense averaged 474.3 yards per game, (11th nationally).  Thus, most expected another top-15 offense this fall given that the Red Raiders were expecting a big season from Alan Bowman given that he brought back all of his weapons from last year except for wide receiver R.J. Turner and given that we thought that the injury gods would finally look kindly on the fragile passer.

But Bowman was just not able to play up to the level that we expected, the level of his freshman year.  That season, he completed 69.4% of his passes while averaging 329.7 yards per game through the air.  However, this season, he completed a career-low 64.7% of his passes while throwing for just 228.5 yards per game.

It appeared that the Grapevine native was never able to shake the mental remnants of the injuries he has sustained during his career and that timidity made him a one-read QB who almost always threw to either his first option or checked the ball down to a running back in the flats.

But while Colombi was more willing to hang in the pocket and throw the ball downfield, he lacked the arm talent necessary to be an effective college QB, at least at the Big 12 level.  What’s more, were it not for his ability to run, he probably never would have seen the field at all.

Still, throwing the football is the most important job description for a quarterback and the Utah State transfer didn’t do that well enough.  His 65.4% completion percentage was adequate but his 6.4 yards per pass attempt was an indictment of his lacking arm strength.

As teams got a book on him, Colombi started to see defenses clog the middle of the field and take away the intermediate passing lanes that he lived on.  As a result, the offense simply didn’t function at full capacity given that the deep passing game was not something Colombi could bring to the table.

Moving forward, Tech has to have better play at the QB position if the offense is going to get back to performing at the level that we expect from a Tech offense.  But as you can see from our offensive position grades, the same could be said about just about every position group on that side of the football.

Related Story. The top Red Raiders of the Big 12 era. light

Home/Texas Tech Football