Putting Bryce Young's Sugar Bowl Into Perspective: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The final word on the Crimson Tide's dominating 45-20 victory over Big 12-champion Kansas State.

Christopher Walsh | Jan 1, 2023

Putting Bryce Young's Sugar Bowl Into Perspective: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly /

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Alabama Crimson Tide

It's with the benefit of retrospect that with the completion of the Alabama Crimson Tide's 2022 season the impact of junior quarterback Bryce Young's separated shoulder can finally be assessed.

He suffered the injury at Arkansas on Oct. 1, and missed the following game against Texas A&M. When he came back at Tennessee on Oct. 15, Young clearly wasn't 100 percent while attempting 52 passes and throwing for 455 yards. Despite being "off," he came oh-so-close to pulling out the victory against a very good Volunteers team that won on a field goal as time expired.

It took Young, who is expected to enter and possibly be the top pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, quite a while for him to confidently throw downfield again, plus he lost valuable time working with the revamped receiving corps — roughly the same number of practices as the Crimson Tide had while getting ready for the Sugar Bowl

Check out his passer ratings, and for a reference Young finished with a 167.5 mark last season when winning the Heisman Trophy:

at Tennessee 153.5
Mississippi State 138.6
at Louisiana State 105.6
at Ole Miss 146.8
Austin Peay 179.9
Auburn 189.0

Even though Alabama's opponents were tougher in the earlier games, Young improved as his shoulder got better.

With Alabama having last played on Nov. 26, he was able to finally rest it before facing No. 9 Kansas State.

His passer rating of 278.4 wasn't just a season high, but a career best of any game he started at Alabama.

Now THAT"S a sendoff.

Player of the game: Young was 15-for-21 for 321 yards to go with five passing touchdowns. Of the seven different receivers he connected with, five scored.

Play of the game: The play that seemed to turn things around for the Crimson Tide was also symbolic of the overall victory. It came on third-and 10 from the Alabama 31, after Kansas State had taken a 10-0 lead. Young stepped up in a collapsing pocket and before taking a hit flicked a short pass to Jahmyr Gibbs. The running back was on a crossing route over the middle and turned up field for a 60-yard gain. Three plays later, on third down again, Young stepped up and hit freshman wide receiver Isaiah Bonds for Alabama's first touchdown.

Statistic of the game: After Kansas State took a 10-0 lead, Alabama scored touchdowns on its next five possessions, during which the Crimson Tide tallied 293 yards. None of the drives went more than seven plays, and the offense converted the only two third-down opportunities it faced, both on the initial touchdown possession that was keyed by the 60-yard gain.

The Good

• After starting the game 1-for-4, Young completed 14 of his next 16 pass attempts. His five touchdown passes set an Alabama bowl record, and matched the Crimson Tide's postseason record set by Mac Jones against Ohio State in the 2021 CFP National Championship Game.

• Gibbs had a game-high 173 all-purpose yards, including 15 carries for 76 yards, two receptions for 66 yards and a pair of kickoff returns for 31 yards. He finished second for catches by a Crimson Tide running back in a single season at 44. The program record remains 48 by Kevin Turner.

• Brian Branch had an outstanding game as he had an interception, 12 tackles, of which 11 were solo, including four for a loss and a sack. Alabama's three safeties combined to made 34 tackles as the Wildcats were limited to just 210 passing yards.

5 PASSING TOUCHDOWN 👀👀@_bryce_young ▶️ @showtime1kp

📺 @espn pic.twitter.com/Xh5WrCNDpm
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) December 31, 2022

The Bad

• Deuce Vaughn's 88-yard touchdown in the first quarter was the longest rushing play in Kansas State bowl history. It was tied for the longest overall play in school bowl history and the second longest rush in Sugar Bowl history.

• The Wildcats finished with 401 total yards, converted seven of 18 third-down opportunities, and had a time of possession advantage of 35:04 to 24:56 thanks primarily to the 18 play, 73-yard drive that ate up 10:32 of the second quarter.

But ...

• We totally get Kansas State coach Chris Klieman desperately trying to turn the momentum, and even understand the onside kick at the start of the second half. But going for it three straight times on fourth down in field-goal range in the second quarter?

"I'm never going to second-guess myself — and you guys know that from being around us," Klieman said during his postgame press conference. "And we've gone for it on fourth down all season long — when we had a chance to go up 17-14."

Either way, the Wildcats would have left time on the clock, and Alabama still drove 98 yards in 1:01 to take a commanding 21-10 lead into halftime.

But didn't the Wildcats study Alabama's games against Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin?

The Ugly

• This is ugly in a good way. When cornerback Eli Ricks probably should have been flagged for a needless face-mask penalty when out-of-bounds, Saban when ballistic on the sideline.

5 Other Things That We Noticed:

• Alabama finished with at least 11 wins for the 12th straight season, and is pretty much guaranteed a top-five finish in the AP Top 25 for the 11th time in 14 years. It was also the 15th straight season Alabama notched at least 10 wins. Previously, Bobby Bowden was the only coach in the history of Division I-A football to compile 14 straight 10-win seasons (1987-2000).

• It was just the second time this season that the Crimson Tide talented secondary combined to make more than one interception in a game. The other opponent was Austin Peay.

• Alabama averaged 9.0 yards per play. The Crimson Tide's bowl record is 10.6 (1935 Rose Bowl).

• Saban notched his 100th career victory, and No. 78 at Alabama, against teams ranked in the AP Top 25. Second on the all-time list is Joe Paterno with 86.

• The Sugar Bowl was Alabama's only neutral-site of the season. Under Saban, the Crimson Tide improved to 30-7, for a winning percentage of .811. Despite the slow start, Alabama also improved to 25-0 under the coach in games kicking off before 11:30 a.m. CT.

Christopher Walsh is the founder and publisher of BamaCentral, which first published in 2018. He's covered the Crimson Tide since 2004, and is the author of 26 books including Decade of Dominance, 100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, Nick Saban vs. College Football, and Bama Dynasty: The Crimson Tide's Road to College Football Immortality. He's an eight-time honoree of Football Writers Association of America awards and three-time winner of the Herby Kirby Memorial Award, the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s highest writing honor for story of the year. In 2022, he was named one of the 50 Legends of the ASWA. Previous beats include the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, along with Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Originally from Minnesota and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, he currently resides in Tuscaloosa.

The Good

The Bad

The Ugly

5 Other Things That We Noticed:

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