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5 bold predictions for Texas Tech in 2020: QB Alan Bowman will lead the Big 12 in passing yards

Could this be the year the Red Raiders finally snap their long losing streak to Oklahoma?

After what has felt like the longest offseason in history, college football is finally on the verge of being back. Players are padding up and serenading those lucky enough to be in the practice facilities with the sweet, sweet music of football being played.

It’s Year 2 of the Matt Wells era and it’s time to start the preseason right with some bold predictions. Here are five predictions for the Red Raiders this season.

Alan Bowman will lead the Big 12 in passing

This feels like a bold claim, but in the span of 11 games Bowman has played in his career, he has passed for 3,658 yards with 23 touchdowns. Injuries have robbed him of large chunks of his true freshman and sophomore seasons, so we never got the chance to see if he could lead the Big 12 in passing yards.

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Bowman averaged 340 yards per game in three appearances last season, which would’ve put him on track for a 4,000-yard campaign.

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With a few new receiving threats this year and another offseason to get acquainted with David Yost’s offense Bowman will be ready to go to work on opposing defenses when football season finally gets here.

Adrian Frye will make the All-Big 12 first team

Last year was a challenging and disappointing season for Adrian Frye with the position change to safety. He often got beat in coverage and overall looked out of place as the deep man. His interceptions and pass breakups went down 80% from his excellent freshman season at cornerback.

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Now, Frye is back at his natural position and will get back to being the elite-level corner he showed he could be in his first year on campus. Tech needs him to get back to this level if it wants to have a chance at competing at the level it wants.

Tech will end its losing streak against Oklahoma

The Red Raiders haven’t beaten the Sooners since Tommy Tuberville coached them to an upset win in 2011. Oklahoma will have a new starting quarterback who, for the first time in several years, isn’t a Heisman-level transfer ready to take over.

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Against an underclassman, Tech should have the edge at quarterback, and with Sooners running back Kennedy Brooks opting out of the 2020 season, the time is right for the Red Raiders to stop the skid.

The run game will improve despite losing 2 backs

Last season, the Red Raiders’ ground game started as a three-headed attack with Armand Shyne, Ta’Zhawn Henry and SaRodorick Thompson. Shyne graduated and Henry transferred, but the best of the three stayed and is being given the keys to become the starter in 2020.

By sticking with one player -- getting star offensive lineman Jack Anderson back healthy for a full season will help, too -- the Tech offense can establish consistency in the run game better than it did last season.

Loic Fouonji will lead Tech in receiving yards

Tech’s only four-star recruit in the 2020 class is poised to have a breakout freshman season. Fouonji has the speed (21.42 200-meter time) and size (6-4) to physically dominate the competition from his first snap.

Erik Ezukanma led the Red Raiders with just 664 yards last season as a sophomore, and this year’s passing attack will be similarly balanced like years past. It is more than possible for Fouonji to put up at least 800 yards in his first college season.

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