Alabama vs. Kansas State odds: Early point spread released for Sugar Bowl

The stage was set for college football’s bowl games on Sunday, headlined by an exciting slate of New Year’s Six bowl games which includes the Allstate Sugar Bowl. This year’s Sugar Bowl will feature a matchup between No. 5 ranked Alabama and the Big 12 conference champion Kansas State Wildcats.

New Year’s Eve may be weeks away, but it’s never too early for the betting odds to be released. FanDuel has set the line for the matchup in favor of the Crimson Tide, setting the line as Alabama -4.5 over Kansas State in a game that’ll be held in Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on December 31.

The Crimson Tide were just outside of the College Football Playoff following the release of the final College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings after conference championship weekend. Their only two losses of the season were to LSU and Tennessee by a combined four points, who both also found themselves ranked in the top 25 to end the regular season.

A big question mark for Alabama in this matchup will be the status of various players on their roster that will likely enter and be high picks in the upcoming 2023 NFL draft, including quarterback Bryce Young and edge rusher Will Anderson. Those two and others have not yet decided if they will enter the draft or play in the bowl game, but those decisions will likely impact the point spread leading up to the game.

Regardless of who suits up for Alabama, they will have to face a No. 9 ranked Kansas State squad fresh off of an impressive conference title win over No. 3 TCU. The Wildcats have put together four straight victories heading into the Sugar Bowl, highlighted by some impressive play from quarterback Will Howard.

Howard took over the reigns of the offense after starter Adrian Martinez went down with an injury in Week 11 against Baylor. From that point forward, Howard has thrown for 902 yards and nine touchdowns, along with two rushing touchdowns, leading K-State to four wins and their first conference championship win since 2012.

Thankfully for the Wildcats, they will have plenty of time to rest from their hard-fought, overtime victory over TCU, and it will definitely be interesting to see if the point spread shifts at all ahead of their Sugar Bowl matchup with the Crimson Tide.