Bryce Young put on a show Saturday night and Alabama needed it, as the Crimson Tide were able to hold off a pesky Arkansas squad at home, 42-35.
The sophomore quarterback set a new Alabama school record with 559 passing yards in the game. He completed 31-0f-40 attempts and connected on 5 touchdowns passes.
Young broke Scott Hunter’s previous single-game mark of 484 yards, which had stood for more than 50 years.
The performance likely moved Young to the top of many Hesiman Trophy ballots, but after the game he was quick to credit his teammates and coaches.
“It’s gonna go down and it’s gonna be written as something I did, but in reality, that’s a reflection of the whole team,” Young said. “That’s my O-line protecting for me. That’s the receivers making my job easy and getting open. Running backs helping in both, in the pass and run game. And (Bill O’Brien) calling great plays. So it’s really a team accomplishment.”
Young was also quick to point out that while the record was nice, getting the victory was far more important.
“Obviously at this level, it is definitely a blessing,” Young said. “Honestly, I wasn’t really that aware of it until people started telling me. For me, it’s just doing whatever it takes for us to win, taking what the defense gives us, and tonight, it ended up being passing yards. But again, that’s a reflection of everyone on the team and everyone doing their job.”
For the season, Young has now passed for 3,584 yards, 38 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions.
He and his Alabama teammates will wrap the regular season with a road game at rival Auburn next Saturday.
"Chris Wallace covers college football for Saturday Down South. He has covered college athletics for multiple newspapers and also worked previously for Rivals.com and GolfChannel.com."
