Bryce Young threw five touchdown passes and No. 5 Alabama overcame a slow start to rout No. 9 Kansas State 45-20 in the Sugar Bowl on Saturday in New Orleans.
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
