Sugar Bowl Presents One More Opportunity in 2022

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Hours after Kansas State hoisted the Big 12 Championship trophy following its emotional 31-28 overtime victory over No. 3 TCU in AT&T Stadium, head coach Chris Klieman and his players flew back to Manhattan and presented the hardware during halftime of the K-State men's basketball game. Then Klieman returned home and "crashed and burned" following a long yet memorable day.

No. 9 Kansas State would like to make the Allstate Sugar Bowl memorable for all the right reasons as well.

The Wildcats, 10-3, learned Sunday afternoon that they'll play No. 5 Alabama, 10-2, in the prestigious bowl game inside Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Saturday, December 31, at 11 a.m. on ESPN.

We're geauxing to the @SugarBowlNola

📄 https://t.co/8AXxOsDfNz pic.twitter.com/Xb6dCWeK45
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) December 4, 2022

It will mark the first-ever meeting between the Crimson Tide and the Wildcats.

"It's a heck of a challenge to play an awesome program like Alabama," Klieman said. "I have so much respect for Coach Nick Saban and what he's done for college football in general. I know when the time comes to lock and load for the game plan and being ready to play our guys will be ready. Without a doubt, we need a little bit of time (off) right now (after the emotional win)."

This will mark K-State's first trip to the Sugar Bowl and its first appearance in New Year's Six Bowl, although the Wildcats previously played in the Cotton Bowl and Fiesta Bowl under the BCS umbrella.

This marks the 24^th bowl all-time for K-State, which is 10-13 in bowl games, and comes off a 42-20 win over LSU in the 2021 Texas Bowl. Klieman is 1-1 in bowl games at K-State.

K-State is 3-2 all-time against SEC teams in bowl games. That includes a 35-21 win over Tennessee (2000), a 29-16 loss to Arkansas (2011) and a 45-23 loss to Arkansas (2015), a 33-28 win over Texas A&M (2016) and last year's 42-20 win over LSU in the Texas Bowl.

Alabama has appeared in the Sugar Bowl 16 times with a 9-7 record in those games. Saban is 15-6 in postseason games at Alabama.

"Our team is really excited about having the opportunity to play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl against a really, really good opponent in Kansas State," Saban said. "They just come off a great win in their conference title game and Coach Chris Klieman has done a fantastic job with their team.

"Our team needs to bounce back and show that they're excited about the opportunity to play against a top-notch team that's a conference champion."

This marks just the second time in nine years that Alabama wasn't selected to play in the College Football Playoffs. Alabama entered the CFP as a No. 1 seed in five of the previous eight years. It last didn't participate in the CFP in 2019-20.

"Obviously, there's going to be some disappointment that we didn't get into the playoffs, but we had a season that was a little bit up-and-down for us," Saban said. "We finished strong. Hopefully, we can do a great job with embracing the challenge we have in playing in a classic and that they'll want to go do a good job to prove who they are as a team."

Alabama has won four of its last six with its two losses at Tennessee (52-49) and at LSU (32-31) coming on the final play.

K-State, which has reached double digits in wins for the first time since it won the Big 12 title in 2012, has won five of its last six games, and has beaten three top-10 opponents in a single season for the first time in history — No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 9 Oklahoma and No. 3 TCU.

"Our league is pretty good," Klieman said. "I think top-to-bottom the Big 12 is still one of the top conferences proven out with TCU going to the CFP and us getting a chance to play in one of the New Year's Six Bowls in the Sugar Bowl.

"I know our guys when they saw 'Alabama' come up they were excited for the chance to play one of the traditional powers for decades in college football, and especially in the time Coach Saban has been there. They've won championship after championship."

Saban said that he hadn't had time yet to fully investigate this current K-State team offered a few takeaways.

"I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for Kansas State," Saban said. "They play with a lot of toughness, they're very well coached, and they're a very disciplined team. They're ball-hawkers and attack the ball. I had a lot of respect for Coach Bill Snyder when he was there and the great job he did for many, many years.

"Chris has certainly picked up and has built what has turned out to be an outstanding team for this year."

K-State and Alabama share a common opponent. Alabama beat Texas, 20-19, in Austin on September 10. K-State suffered a 34-27 loss to Texas at home on November 5.

"Obviously, (Alabama) had a really good year," Klieman said. "They lost a couple games on the last possession or last play or if not they'd probably be in the CFP. It's going to be a great challenge for us."

And another opportunity to make more memories in 2022.

Kansas State University Athletics

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