Date: Saturday, December 31, 2022
Kickoff: 11 a.m.
Location: New Orleans, La.
Stadium: Caesars Superdome (68,500)
Series: First Meeting
TV: ESPN (watch)
TEAM NOTES
WILDCATS HEADED TO ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL
• Fresh off a 31-28 victory over No. 3 TCU in the 2022 Big 12 Championship, Kansas State received its 24th bowl berth all time and third under head coach Chris Klieman as the ninth-ranked Wildcats will face No. 5 Alabama in the 89th annual Allstate Sugar Bowl on Saturday, December 31.
• Of K-State’s 24 total bowl appearances all-time, 22 of those have come in the last 30 seasons.
• The Wildcats hold a 10-13 record in bowl games and are looking to win their fourth bowl game in their last five appearances. It would be the first time in school history the Wildcats won four bowls in five tries.
• This will mark the eighth different state in which K-State has traveled to bowl games. The most frequent are Arizona (4-Copper/Insight/Buffalo Wild Wings/Cactus, 3-Fiesta) and Texas (3-Cotton, 3-Texas, 2-Alamo).
K-STATE IN LOUISIANA
• Kansas State is looking to turn around its fortune in the Pelican State as the Wildcats are 0-4 all-time in games played in the state of Louisiana.
• Included in that stretch is a 0-1 mark in New Orleans having lost at Tulane, 20-16, in 1988 inside the Superdome.
• K-State’s last game in the state of Louisiana came in 2009 when it lost to Louisiana, 17-15, on a last-minute field goal in Lafayette.
CATS AND CRIMSON TIDE
• Kansas State and Alabama will meet for the first time ever on the gridiron in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
• It will be just the sixth time the Wildcats have faced a team from the state Alabama, going 1-4 in the previous five games.
• The Wildcats defeated Troy at home in 2003, while they are 0-4 all-time against Auburn. The Tigers are the last team from the state of Alabama the Wildcats have faced, which came in a 20-14 setback at home in 2014.
K-STATE AND THE SEC
• K-State will be playing its 139th game all-time against current members of the SEC, but 107 of those meetings were against either Missouri or Texas A&M as Big Eight/12 foes.
• It marks the second-straight season the Wildcats will face an SEC team in bowl play and the fourth in the Wildcats’ last six bowl games. K-State has won each of its last two bowl meetings with SEC teams, defeating LSU in last year’s Texas Bowl (42-20) and Texas A&M in the 2016 Texas Bowl (33-28).
• Under head coach Chris Klieman, Kansas State is 3-0 against SEC opponents. The Wildcats won at Mississippi State, 31-24, in 2019, defeated LSU in last year’s Texas Bowl, and took down Missouri, 40-12, earlier this season.
BOWLING AGAIN
• In an era of college football where over 80 teams play in bowl games each year, K-State is one of just 19 Power 5 schools to advance to a bowl in 11 of the last 13 years.
• The Wildcats are one of four Big 12 teams to accomplish the feat, joining Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
• Since 1993, Kansas State has advanced to 23 bowl games, which is tied for 16th nationally and fourth in the Big 12.
BIG 12 CHAMPS
• Kansas State earned its third Big 12 title with a 31-28 overtime victory over No. 3 TCU in the 2022 Dr. Pepper Big 12 Championship on December 3.
• The victory was the second for the Wildcats in a conference championship game as they took down No. 1 Oklahoma, 35-7, in 2003.
• Kansas State earned its first conference title since finishing with an 8-1 record in 2012 as there was no conference championship game conducted that year.
• It was the fourth ever conference title for the Wildcats, who also won the Big Six in 1934 with a 5-0 record.
RYAN LACKEY
Associate Athletics Director for Communications