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Alabama Crimson Tide vs Kansas State Wildcats Best Bet: Sugar Bowl Betting

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Alabama Crimson Tide vs Kansas State Wildcats BEST BET: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31st

It will be an SEC Big 12 showdown at the Caesars Superdome when the #5 Alabama Crimson Tide face the #9 Kansas State Wildcats in New Orleans on Saturday. Our resident college football pundit Ej Garr has 3 articles posted for your Bowl Game pleasure, and that’s what makes this the most wonderful time of the year!

In this article:

Alabama Crimson Tide vs Kansas State Wildcats Preview

December 31, 17:00 (UK time)

The biggest question on everyone’s mind is how motivated the Crimson Tide will be to hoist the Sugar Bowl trophy on Saturday. Falling just short in the #5 slot in the final rankings left Alabama out of the CFP Semifinals, which is where they would much rather be today.

With that in mind, we cannot question Nick Saban’s plan to have his team motivated to represent the SEC and also to be sure Georgia doesn’t steal all of the glory again this campaign. While the Bulldogs are chasing a second straight title this year, Alabama was surely hoping that the Ohio State loss to Michigan might see them slip into the playoff, but we know that didn’t happen.

The line setters seem to want to convince us all that Alabama wants this win, slapping the -7 chalk against the Wildcats to win this game. I can guarantee that the Kansas State practices and preparations for this game included a big, fat, ALABAMA -7 somewhere as a reminder.

By the same token, it looks like Adrian Martinez will not be available for the Wildcats, but that won’t stop Will Howard from continuing his progress. In only 6 games played this year, Howard has thrown 15 TD passes and only two balls to the wrong team, and that shows he knows how to stay in control and deliver the goods. Malik Knowles is also a question mark to play in this game, taking the team’s leading yard-gainer off the field (719).

Although I will say that luckily Kansas State has Deuce Vaughn toting the rock, and those 1,425 yards he’s gained tell you all you need to know about his toughness. Vaughn’s ability to move the chains will greatly impact the outcome of this game, but if they plan on being one-dimensional, it is not going to work out in the least.

What Vaughn does to make Howard’s job easier will not be the case in this year’s Sugar Bowl, mark my words.

Nick Saban’s defense isn’t ranked #1 in this and #2 in that like they have been known to do over the years, and maybe that’s what held them back from the playoff in the long run. The 52 points allowed to Tennessee and the 32 given up to LSU are why they are here essentially.

Tide QB Bryce Young may not have a second Heisman trophy in his hip pocket to show off, but he certainly wants to prove that Alabama should be in the title game, even though we all know that’s just pride talking. Whatever and where ever they should be has no bearing on where we are, so the goal is to look forward to next year with a Sugar Bowl win.

I think questioning Saban’s motivation is a mistake, and I don’t think that Deuce Vaughn will be able to do enough to give Kansas State this win today.