Alabama's Bryce Young shatters school mark with 559 yards passing
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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Bryce Young passed for more yards than any Alabama quarterback ever had in a game.
The second-ranked Crimson Tide needed that kind of performance — and every timely deep ball to Jameson Williams, too.
Young passed for a school-record 559 yards and five touchdowns and No. 2 Alabama clinched a spot in the Southeastern Conference championship game with a 42-35 victory Saturday over No. 21 Arkansas.
The Tide (10-1, 7-1, No. 2 CFP) won its 15th consecutive game against the Razorbacks (7-4, 3-4), thanks largely to the Young-to-Williams deep connection that continues to be the ultimate offensive bailout.
Alabama set up a date with No. 1 Georgia in Atlanta on Dec. 4 after a visit to rival Auburn.
“We left a lot of points on the board where we could have put the game away,” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “And defensively, we gave up a couple of big plays but the big thing was they were like 10 of 19 on third and fourth down so when we had opportunities to get off the field we didn’t get off the field.”
This one wasn’t settled until Arkansas’s onside kick went out of bounds with 1:02 left.
The Razorbacks had stayed alive with Raheim Sanders’ 17-yard touchdown catch from K.J. Jefferson, but took nearly five minutes to get there.
Young completed 31 of 40 passes to keep himself squarely in the Heisman Trophy conversation, hitting Williams for a perfect strike for a 79-yarder in double coverage and flipping the ball to Christian Leary for another touchdown when he appeared set to run.
It was the second-most passing yards in SEC history, behind Mississippi State’s K.J. Costello, who threw for 623 yards against LSU last season.
Williams caught eight passes for 190 yards with touchdowns of 79, 32 and 40 yards.
“When you have a dynamic playmaker like that you just have to put the ball in the air and let him run under it,” Young said.
John Metchie also gained 173 yards on 10 catches with a touchdown. Alabama’s Brian Robinson ran for 122 yards on 27 carries.
The clincher was Young’s 40-yarder to Williams in the end zone on third and 10. It was reviewed to see if Williams had possession as he came down, and replay officials upheld the call to the relief of the Bryant-Denny stadium crowd.
That left Jefferson and Arkansas needing two scores in the final 5:39, but they could only deliver one.
Jefferson completed 22 of 30 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns. Much of that damage was done by Treylon Burks, whose eight catches went for 179 yards and a pair of scores.
“We felt like we had a great chance to win the game and obviously we did,” Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said. “We just didn’t get enough or didn’t get a stop. We certainly didn’t play a perfect game.”
It gave Alabama double-digit wins for the 14th consecutive season, matching Florida State’s FBS record set from 1987-2000.
Young shattered the school mark of 484 passing yards set by Scott Hunter against Auburn in 1969, surpassing it with 11 minutes to play.
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