One week from Saturday the Texas Longhorns will travel to Lubbock for the Big 12 opener against Texas Tech at Jones AT&T Stadium. For the Longhorns this will their earliest trip to Lubbock since the 2010 season. That year they won 24-14. It was a sloppy game from quarterback Garrett Gilbert who threw three interceptions in that game but the Longhorns never trailed.
This will be the first time that Alan Bowman will face Texas as he has been injured the last two times these teams faced off. That is the biggest concern for Red Raider fans, can Bowman play an entire season? He has shown promise in two seasons but staying healthy and consistent is what Texas Tech needs from their passer. They struggled last weekend against Houston Baptist, but not necessarily Bowman’s fault. The defense was as effective as a wet paper bag.
On the other hand you have the Big 12’s leading passer (touchdowns) in Sam Ehlinger. He is the opposite in that he doesn’t miss football games. A true gamer with an immense competitive drive. Last week against UTEP, he got off to a hot start from the first play on. Set school records for passing yards and touchdowns in the first half. Had he played the second half like he did the first, he would have obliterated any school records for one game.
Bowman will likely test this Texas defense with the amount of times they will throw the ball. On the other side, Ehlinger is looking at this defense and salivating. If Texas continues with their own version of the ‘air raid’ attack, Matt Wells defense could be in for a long game next Saturday.
| Sam Ehlinger | vs | Alan Bowman |
| 6-3 | Ht | 6-3 |
| 225 | Wt | 216 |
| Sr | Yr | Jr |
| 26 | Comp | 38 |
| 33 | Att | 52 |
| 12.9 | YPA | 8.3 |
| 426 | Yards | 430 |
| 5 | TDs | 2 |
| 0 | INTs | 1 |
| 234.2 | Rating | 151.4 |