No. 3: @ Oklahoma State 2018
While Bowman didn’t win enough Big 12 games against ranked teams, one time that he did manage to do so was in his first-ever road start, which came at Oklahoma State in 2018. That night, he led the Red Raiders to a 41-17 win over the No. 15 Cowboys.
Though he did throw the first two interceptions of his career that night, neither proved to be back-breaking. Meanwhile, he completed 35 of 46 passes for 397 yards and a pair of TDs while putting up a QB rating of 154.2.
Remember that, at the time, Tech had lost nine straight games to the Cowboys and hadn’t won in Stillwater since 2001. Thus, this win carried even more significance than the typical victory.
It was also the only time Bowman would beat a ranked team as a Red Raider.
Late in the first quarter, Bowman got Tech on the board with a 12-yard strike to T.J. Vasher. Then, early in the second quarter, he would connect with KeSean Carter from two yards out.
In the second half, Tech’s running game would take over and make life easier on Bowman. That day, the Red Raiders would run for 224 yards and three scores.
But don’t underestimate what Bowman did in that game. He was composed and in control of the offense in his first career road start, which happened to come at night in one of the more hostile stadiums in the Big 12.
At that point, Bowman had won his first three starts as a collegiate to push Tech to a 3-1 overall record and we all thought that a new Texas Tech QB legend was in the process of being made. But just one week later, against West Virginia, he would suffer his first collapsed lung injury and the course of Texas Tech football would forever be altered.