Alan Bowman named full-time Oklahoma State starting quarterback against Iowa State

Oklahoma State has announced Alan Bowman as its full-time starting quarterback ahead of kickoff between the Cowboys and Iowa State.

For the first three weeks of the season, Bowman had been splitting time with sophomore Gunnar Gundy and freshman Garret Rangel. Bowman led the group in passing yards with 235 entering Week 4, and has seemingly done enough in head coach Mike Gundy’s eyes to keep him on board as QB1 for the foreseeable future.

Bowman is a sixth-year senior who has made the last two starts for Oklahoma State. After five years at Texas Tech and Michigan, he leads the way in total completions so far with 30-52 passing. However, his completion rate of 57.7% is last among the three. He is the only one without a touchdown and one of two who have thrown an interception so far.

Gundy, a walk-on and the son of the head coach, comes next. He is the only one who has yet to make a start but has arguably had the best start with the highest completion rate of 61.8% and is the only one of the three QBs who hasn’t thrown an interception.

Rangel, who is a former four-star quarterback and current redshirt freshman, made the initial start for Oklahoma State this season in a win against Central Arkansas. While he has the most touchdowns (2), he has the fewest completions, attempts, and yards.

None of their outings in the latest 33-7 loss to South Alabama made this decision any easier for Gundy. In total, they combined to go just 16/35 (45.7%) for only 114 yards, no touchdowns, and an interception from Bowman.

“We lost the turnover battle, we had way too many penalties. We couldn’t rush the ball. If you take away the quarterback draws, we didn’t rush the ball well enough to amount to anything,” head coach Mike Gundy said after the loss to USA. “We’ve got to do a better job of protecting the quarterbacks and giving those guys a chance to function. It looked, just from being on the sideline, like it was really difficult for them.

“And then, on the defensive side early, we gave up a few of what I call easy third down conversions on the throws where we didn’t get covered down. And we’ve got to stop the run,” Gundy added. “We came in worried too much about them throwing the ball, which is really what they had done, and they got us running the ball. We’ve got to stop the run first and then rally back and deal with the pass.”

As the Cowboys search for continuity under center, the opening kickoff between the Cowboys and Cyclones is set for 4 p.m. ET live on FS1.