Bryce Young Breaks Alabama Single-Game Passing Record
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — For Bryce Young, it was a record-setting day.
Young completed 31 of 40 passes for 559 yards and five touchdowns during No. 2 Alabama's 42-35 victory over No. 21 Arkansas on Saturday afternoon in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
The sophomore broke the program record for the most passing yards by a quarterback in a single game.
"Someone told me," Young said. "That's a blessing, for sure. For all the great quarterbacks that have played here, to have an accomplishment like that is definitely a blessing. It's going to go down and it's going to be written as something I did, but in reality that's a reflection of the whole team.
"That's my o-line protecting for me. That's my receivers making my job easy in getting open. Running backs helping in both in the pass and run game and [Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien] calling great plays so it's really a team accomplishment."
In the fourth quarter, Young completed a 27-yard pass to wide receiver Slade Bolden. The play brought Young's yards total at the time to 488 yards — enough to break the record.
The previous record was set 52 years ago by former Crimson Tide quarterback Scott Hunter, who threw for 484 yards during the 1969 Iron Bowl.
By pure coincidence, Hunter also served as one of Alabama's honorary team captains and was celebrated prior to the game's start.
Hunter's record had almost been broken on several occasions over the last few seasons. Former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa eclipsed the 400-yard passing mark three times, while Mac Jones did so five times.
"He made really good decisions about who to throw the ball to," Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said. "He had several — I mean, at least four — drops to go with and he had a couple of overthrows but the guy had a fantastic game I think and really did a good job sort of taking what they give exactly with the ball and other than a couple of drops the receivers did a really good job in the game as well."
With the win, Alabama clinched the SEC West Division title and will face No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. However, the team must first travel to Auburn to play in the Iron Bowl — the very game that Hunter set the single-game passing record in 52 years ago.
Alabama wide receiver John Metchie III credited Young for his efforts on the gridiron but also echoed his quarterback by saying that the accomplishment was a team effort.
"I think just following the game plan," Metchie said. "Just going out there and executing on whatever plays was called and just making the plays that were called. I think that was just the biggest part. That's all."
