If Alan Bowman can be this good, Oklahoma State football's ceiling is sky high | Mussatto
Joe MussattoThe Oklahoman
STILLWATER — Alan Bowman, in a celebration befitting of his name, pulled back the string of a bow and launched an imaginary arrow. It matched the arc of the 58-yard bomb Bowman had just uncorked to Rashod Owens for a Cowboys touchdown.
Oklahoma State’s archer was on target. He and the Cowboys torched FCS juggernaut South Dakota State 44-20 Saturday afternoon in Stillwater.
For all the attention on OSU’s superstar running back Ollie Gordon II, an NFL-aged offensive line and an exciting group of receivers, we sometimes overlook who plays the most important position on the field for the Cowboys. That’s because all OSU needs is serviceable play from its quarterback, which Bowman provided last year in the Cowboys’ run to the Big 12 Championship Game.
But what if Bowman is more than serviceable? What if, in Year 2 as a Cowboy, there’s another level for Bowman to reach?
Sounds silly to suggest about a seventh-year senior. Bowman probably is who he is at this point.
But what if he isn’t?
“I felt as if my performance last year was so-so, to be honest,” Bowman said. “Now that I have another year of the full offseason and now really understand the game plan of what we’re trying to do as an offense and be as an offense, I think there can be a massive step.
“I think we could be really, really good.”
Bowman completed 25-of-34 passes for 267 yards in the season opener against South Dakota State. It was his highest completion percentage (74%) in 15 games as a Cowboy. Last season, Bowman ranked 11th among Big 12 quarterbacks in completion percentage (60.7%). His 15 touchdowns came with 14 interceptions, the most in the Big 12.
Bowman tied his OSU high with three touchdown passes Saturday. Best of all, zero interceptions.
Bowman had a streak of 13 straight completions. Five of his last six attempts were incompletions in garbage time, which brought down a still strong percentage.
“This is his team,” Gordon said. “We’re playing for him. So for him to be able to get out the pocket and throw the ball, just have a bunch of things to his game, I feel like it’s going to be hard for teams to plan against us.”
Remember, Bowman wasn’t the Cowboys’ full-time starter until Week 4 last season. He was in a three-quarterback rotation with Garrett Rangel and Gunnar Gundy.
After running an Air Raid system at Texas Tech, similar to his high school offense, Bowman played sparingly at Michigan before transferring to OSU. He’s a veteran, but he’s still relatively new to Mike Gundy and Kasey Dunn’s offensive scheme.
Gundy said Bowman will grade out “really high” from a decision-making standpoint in how he distributed the ball to OSU’s playmakers.
“I felt really comfortable with what (South Dakota State) was going to do as a defense, so that allowed me to play free,” Bowman said.
The Cowboys didn’t have a run longer than 12 yards, but Bowman opened up the offense with six completions of 15 or more yards.
The longest, 58 yards to Owens, was the dagger. The arrow, rather, which gave the Cowboys a three-touchdown lead midway through the third quarter.
Bowman (Bow-man, get it?) has been doing the arrow celebration since high school. He had to bust it out after the deep shot to Owens.
“To see it right in his hands, there’s nothing better in sports, I’ll tell ya, that feeling when he catches it,” Bowman said, “and walks into the end zone.”
