Bryce Young threw five touchdown passes and No. 5 Alabama overcame a slow start to rout No. 9 Kansas State 45-20 in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Saturday in New Orleans. Watch the video highlights of this encounter at the Caesars Superdome.
Young completed 15 of 21 passes for 321 yards and the Crimson Tide (11-2) scored 35 consecutive points to take command after falling behind 10-0. Deuce Vaughn rushed for 133 yards and a touchdown and Will Howard passed for 210 yards, but was intercepted twice for the Big 12 champion Wildcats (10-4).
Kansas State tried to regain the momentum by starting the second half with an onside kick, but Alabama recovered. Three plays later Young threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Corey Brooks for a 28-10 lead.
On the ensuing possession, Brian Branch intercepted Howard, giving the Tide the ball at the Wildcats’ 17-yard line. On the next play Jase McClellan produced Alabama’s only rushing touchdown from 17 yards out for a 35-10 lead.
Kansas State’s Ty Zentner kicked a 28-yard field goal and Young threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to Kobe Prentice for a 42-13 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Alabama’s Will Reichard kicked a 49-yard field goal and the Wildcats’ Jordan Schippers ran 1 yard for a touchdown to complete the scoring. Zentner’s 41-yard field goal and Vaughn’s 88-yard touchdown run, the second-longest in Sugar Bowl history, gave Kansas State its early lead.
Young connected with Jahmyr Gibbs for 60 yards to the Wildcats’ 9, setting up his 6-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Bond.
That left Kansas State with a 10-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. A 47-yard pass from Young to Jermaine Burton set up Young’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Latu for a 14-10 lead early in the second quarter.
On the ensuing possession the Wildcats converted two third downs and two fourth downs to reach the Tide 2 late in the second quarter, but on fourth-and-goal Howard threw an incompletion.
Alabama drove 98 yards in seven plays, the last of which was Young’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Burton with 10 seconds left, giving the Tide a 21-10 halftime lead. –Field Level Media
