The final touches are being put on the 2022 K-State football season, which will come to an end on Saturday in the Caesar’s Superdome against Alabama.
A season that saw an early season loss to Tulane and quarterback controversy also involved a 48-point blowout over a top ten team and a Big 12 Championship win in overtime against a team headed to the College Football Playoff.
Now the Wildcats get to face what could be their biggest test in program history, with Nick Saban and Alabama. The Crimson Tide finished a spot out of the playoff with a 10-2 record, with both losses coming on the final play to Tennessee and LSU.
Both teams have talent that could easily be selected in prime positions in the NFL Draft come April. K-State’s Deuce Vaughn, Felix Anudike-Uzomah and Cooper Beebe never seemed in doubt to play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
But for Saban, he had to stare at the possibility of being without his Heisman-winning quarterback Bryce Young and top defensive player Will Anderson. Those two are in New Orleans and didn’t opt out, but the verbiage Saban continues to use is “we’ve done everything that we could do as an institution to minimize the risk for them to play.”
Since the College Football Playoff era (2014) began, Saban has only missed the playoffs twice. In 2019 when his team beat Michigan in the Citrus Bowl and now 2022 as they prepare to face K-State. Saban is also 1-3 in Sugar Bowls since taking over as the head coach at Alabama.
For K-State, they are playing in its first major bowl game since the 2012 Fiesta Bowl loss to Oregon. Chris Klieman has been able to get the Wildcats to this spot in just four seasons, after taking over a 5-7 team and leaving his job at North Dakota State as a four-time national champion.
Klieman will have most of his roster available for this game, aside from season-ending injuries that took place during the season. Klieman said prior to leaving for New Orleans that they were hopeful they could get Adrian Martinez the chance to play, but that Will Howard is “the guy.”
One situation to monitor is that of Ekow Boye-Doe, who sustained an injury in the Big 12 Championship against TCU. He and Klieman both assume he will play, but it’s a question mark worth noting.
Kickoff is set for just after 11:00 AM on Saturday from New Orleans and will be televised on ESPN. Since Klieman came to Manhattan, K-State is 11-4 in games that kickoff before 1:00 PM, including the Big 12 Championship game.
