Kansas defensive coordinator Clint Bowen will take over as interim head coach until a replacement for Charlie Weis is found.

Trying to win football games in the Big 12 with neither a quarterback ready for the task nor an offensive line equipped to protect him equates to bringing an official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot range-model rifle to a dusty Dodge City duel in Wild, Wild West times.

Yet, having a poor shot is better than no shot at all, and Clint Bowen has a shot at winning his dream job, minus the interim tag. His eight-game job interview begins Saturday in Morgantown, West Virginia, where as is almost always the case in Big 12 play, KU will come in as a double-digit underdog.

Bowen earned this opportunity by doing more than playing for KU, graduating from the school and working as an assistant at it for four head coaches (Glen Mason, Terry Allen, Mark Mangino and Charlie Weis).

Bowen earned it by driving his players to play with the passion he exudes as a coach, even in the midst of a losing, negative environment.

Three of the Longhorns’ scores in Saturday’s 23-0 victory against KU were set up by interceptions, a fourth by a punt return followed by a 15-yard personal-foul penalty. The Texas scoring drives: 18 yards, 13 yards, 4 yards, 16 yards.

Bowen’s first head-coaching assignment is a difficult one, and keeping it beyond the rest of this season will require more than the team playing well on one side of the ball. It will take winning games.

If he does that, he deserves the job. After all, if the Weis experiment taught one thing, it’s that winning news conferences is meaningless and doesn’t lead to winning games.

Weis brought a big name and trophy case to Lawrence. He made promises of great quarterback play. And he walked off the field in his final game with a zero on the scoreboard for the second time in the past six games.

If Bowen can’t make miracles out of mayhem, he’ll gladly work for the next coach because in his mind there is no better office than the Anderson Family Football Complex.

Safety Anthony “Fish” Smithson gave his early impressions of Bowen during a summer interview.

“If you let anything up, he’s right here,” Smithson said, putting his hand inches in front of his face. “Before the play is even over, he’s right there. He knows this defense in and out. If you mess it up, he’s right on you.”

Behind that smile, Bowen has that consistent layer of intensity all successful coaches bring to work daily. And he has an abundance of energy.

“He’s pretty hard on us,” Smithson said. “I think that’s what we need, though. That’s why he’s been here a long time. That’s why he’s been successful in the past because he gets on the players, and he expects a lot out of us. He’s on us when we do something bad, but also he praises us when we do something good.”

Bowen has worked in college football for 18 seasons. It’s all he knows, so look for KU’s daily practices to reflect that and lose whatever NFL flavor they took on under Weis.

A 1995 graduate of KU, Bowen lives in his native Lawrence with wife Kristie (Miss Kansas 2001, Mrs. Kansas 2014) and their sons, Baylor and Banks.

After Mangino’s firing, Bowen had to move to stay in the business and spent a year at Western Kentucky and another at North Texas. He much prefers his current address.

Bo Schembechler once famously said, “I want a Michigan man coaching Michigan,” after Bill Frieder bolted for Arizona State, opening the door for assistant Steve Fisher to take over the team for the NCAA Tournament, which Michigan won.

Well, Kansas has a Kansas man coaching Kansas, at least for the next eight games. He has earned everybody’s support for the remaining eight games, three of which (Oklahoma State, Oct. 11; Iowa State, Nov. 8; TCU, Nov. 15) will be played on the same field Bowen called home as a player.