NEW ORLEANS — One of the biggest football games in Kansas State history ended in disappointment on Saturday inside the Superdome.
The Alabama Crimson Tide flexed their blue-blood muscles and dismantled the Wildcats, 45-20, for a blowout victory in front of 60,437 at the Sugar Bowl.
K-State jumped out to a 10-0 lead, and the thousands of purple-clad fans who made the trek to New Orleans for this game were delirious with excitement as it looked like the Wildcats might pull off an upset for the ages. But that nice start could not be sustained. Alabama proved why it is one of the most dominant teams in all of college football by scoring the next 35 points and coasting to the win.
Bryce Young led the charge by throwing for 321 yards and five touchdowns.
Deuce Vaughn had a strong outing for K-State, finishing with 133 yards and a touchdown on the ground. But the Wildcats needed more to keep up with the Crimson Tide.
Alabama ended its season at 11-2. The way it played on Saturday will likely make some think it deserved a spot in the playoff rather than a New Year’s Six bowl. K-State finished 10-4.
It was still an excellent season for the Wildcats, as they won their first Big 12 championship and reached their first major bowl in a decade. Few other K-State teams have accomplished more. But they were unable to add to their legacy.
Here are five takeaways from the action:
Klieman coached too aggressively
While it is certainly true that an underdog team like Kansas State was unlikely to beat a juggernaut opponent like Alabama without taking a few risks, Chris Klieman took things too far with some of his coaching decisions.
Klieman elected to go for it on fourth down on three different occasions during an important drive late in the first half and K-State ended up not scoring a single point on a possession that lasted 18 plays and drained 10 minutes, 32 seconds off the clock. Alabama led 14-10 at that point. Instead of pulling to within 14-13 with a field goal, the Wildcats walked away with nothing.
Then Klieman compounded that error by electing to call timeout after K-State stuffed an Alabama run on the next play. He wanted to get the ball back and score again before halftime. But the Crimson Tide decided to get aggressive themselves and drove the length of the field for a back-breaking touchdown rather than simply running out the clock. That made the score 21-10.
A comeback seemed unlikely at that point, but Klieman made K-State’s odds even worse by attempting a surprise onside kick at the start of the third quarter. Alabama wasn’t fooled and recovered the kick in excellent field position. That led to a quick touchdown pass from Young to make the score 28-10. With the game spiraling out of control, Will Howard then threw an interception and Alabama pulled ahead 35-10.
It would be interesting to know how much differently things would have played out had K-State gone into the locker room down 14-13.
K-State lost this game late in the first half
The Wildcats will be regretting how the second quarter of this game ended for a long time.
K-State severely outplayed Alabama in the early going and jumped out to a 10-0 lead. There was a time on Saturday when it looked like the Wildcats might blow out the Crimson Tide, instead of vice versa. But things began to slip away after Alabama converted a key third down with a 60-yard pass from Young to Jahmyr Gibbs and punched in a touchdown shortly after.
Still, K-State was very much in this game as it methodically marched down the field late in the second quarter and threatened to take a 17-14 lead. It looked like the Wildcats were going to do exactly that when they went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 2. Howard rolled to his right on the play and saw tight end Ben Sinnott streak open in the end zone. But Howard’s pass drifted too wide and the Wildcats turned the ball over on downs.
Instead of going into halftime with a lead, the Wildcats watched the Crimson Tide pull ahead 21-10. With Alabama set to receive the opening kickoff of the third quarter, K-State was suddenly facing long comeback odds. Alabama fed off that momentum swing and pulled ahead 35-10 before the Wildcats finally answered with a field goal in the third quarter.
Things could have been much different without K-State bungling that key sequence of the game.
Vaughn added another highlight to his reel
The loudest cheer of the day inside the Superdome came early in the first quarter when Vaughn burst through a hole at the line of scrimmage and scampered 88 yards up the right sideline for a touchdown that gave K-State a 10-0 lead.
Not only did that play prove that the Wildcats were capable of competing against mighty Alabama, it reminded a national viewing audience exactly how special Vaughn is as a running back.
He showed off everything on that play ... vision, speed and the ability to beat defenders to the end zone.
The run went down as the longest rushing play ever in a K-State bowl game and the second longest in the history of the Sugar Bowl.
This might have been Vaughn’s last game in a K-State uniform, depending on what he decides to do about his NFL future. If he chooses to start focusing on the NFL, he ended his college career with a bang.
Alabama played like a national championship contender
No one listened to Nick Saban when the Alabama coach went on a promotional tour to try to talk the Crimson Tide into the playoff when their regular season came to an end with two losses.
Maybe the playoff committee should have considered Alabama more strongly.
Saban’s team played like a champion in this game and completely outclassed K-State after falling behind 10-0 in the early going.
Young looked like the future No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL draft by making some incredible throws against Kansas State’s defense. Alabama also looked sharp on defense and limited K-State to just two touchdowns on a neutral field.
Alabama was ranked No. 5 in the final playoff rankings, one spot away from the semifinal games. It could have absolutely won one of those matchups playing like this.
Good learning experience for K-State
It had to be humbling for Klieman to watch such a special season end with a blowout loss. But this could end up being a valuable learning experience for the Wildcats.
In future seasons, K-State will earn a spot in the expanded playoff with campaigns like this one.
This shows that the Wildcats have not fully arrived. They need to continue to make improvements across the program if they hope to elevate themselves to a point where they can win a postseason game like this. On Saturday, they went toe-to-toe with Alabama for 28 minutes and then got crushed in the final 32.
If the goal is to earn playoff bids in the future and advance in the bracket, they will need to get a little stronger in terms of talent and depth. Alabama had a huge advantage in both areas, and it showed.
This result could be used as a measuring stick moving forward.
