Bowman throws for 605 yards as Texas Tech tops Houston 63-49
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Alan Bowman has a long list of prolific Texas Tech quarterbacks to chase on the career charts.
The true freshman quickly accomplished something one of his predecessors — coach Kliff Kingsbury — never did: a 600-yard game.
Bowman threw for 605 yards with five touchdowns — three to Antoine Wesley who set a school record with 261 yards receiving — and the Red Raiders beat Houston 63-49 on Saturday.
Bowman finished 43-of-59 passing for the fifth 600-yard game in Texas Tech history, and the Big 12 single-game record for a freshman. Wesley had 13 catches, his last a 33-yard TD with a defender grabbing on to him near the end zone with less than four minutes left.
Since replacing an injured McLane Carter in the first quarter of the season opener, Bowman has thrown for 1,160 yards and eight touchdowns without an interception.
"That was a nice step in the right direction," said Kingsbury, second at Texas Tech in career yards passing. "But I've said it all along, there's an expectation at Texas Tech that started a long time ago that we're going to play really good at quarterback and play really good on offense."
Ta'Zhawn Henry, another true freshman for the Red Raiders (2-1), had three of his four rushing touchdowns after halftime. His 19-yard TD run with 10:49 left in the third quarter broke a 35-all tie, putting Tech ahead to stay before he added a 13-yard scoring run about three minutes later. Henry carried 24 times for 111 yards.
D'Eriq King was 30-of-51 passing for 431 yards and five touchdowns for Houston (2-1). The junior quarterback has 12 passing TDs already this season. He also ran for a score, his fourth rushing TD this season. The passing yards and six total touchdowns were career highs.
The offensive showcase came with two former Big 12 quarterbacks on opposing sidelines — Kingsbury and Houston coach Major Applewhite, who played at Texas.
"You can't expect to win any games giving up 63 points, so we've got to tackle better," Applewhite said. "It's one thing to tell them what kind of game it is. You've got to get them prepared to play that type of game."
Marquez Stevenson had nine catches for 177 yards, including TDs of 57 and 79 yards for the Cougars. Keith Corbin had seven catches for 103 yards and two touchdowns.
T.J. Vasher caught two TD passes for Tech, which was coming off a 77-0 home win over Lamar the previous week. Ja'Deion High had seven catches for 120 yards.
THE TAKEAWAY
Houston: New offensive coordinator Kendal Briles has got the playmakers needed for the big-play offense. The Cougars had 635 total yards, and through three games are averaging 46.3 points and 581 yards per game.
Texas Tech: For all that offseason talk about how much better the Red Raiders would be with all the returning starters and other experienced players, there has to be concerns about stopping teams going into Big 12 play. Forget that shutout they had against FCS team Lamar. They have given up 96 points and 1,181 total yards in their two games against FBS teams.
600 CLUB
While Kingsbury is second to Graham Harrell in career yards passing for Texas Tech with 12,429, his best single-game total was 510 yards. That's now 15th on the school's list. The other 600-yard games belong to Kansas City Chiefs starter Patrick Mahomes (734 yards two years ago), B.J. Symons (661 in 2003), Harrell (646 in 2007) and Cody Hodges (643 in 2005).
QUICK-STRIKE COUGARS
All six of Houston's scoring drives took less than two minutes. The Cougars now have 15 such drives through three games. They had 18 drives under two minutes all of last season.
UP NEXT
Houston: The Cougars are home Saturday against Texas Southern before an open date and then American Athletic Conference play.
Texas Tech: The Red Raiders hit the road to play Oklahoma State in their Big 12 Conference opener next Saturday.
