Can Alabama football defense stop Deuce Vaughn in Sugar Bowl? In short, no

NEW ORLEANS − Expecting the Alabama football team to win as a 6-point favorite against Kansas State Saturday in the Sugar Bowl is one thing. Expecting to stop Deuce Vaughn is another.

Won't happen.

Not against a talent as dynamic as Kansas State's star running back. And not by an Alabama run defense that was too often vulnerable this year.

Instead, look for Vaughn to crack 100 yards on the ground, as he's done eight times on the way to a 1,425-yard season, and be the offensive staple the Wildcats need to keep pace with the Crimson Tide. Why expect anything else? This is, after all, an Alabama defense coming off an allowance of over 300 rushing yards against an Auburn team that posed only a modest passing threat. As well, UA looks to be short-handed at an inside linebacker position due to injury.

And it will face a challenge in Vaughn unlike anything else it's seen.

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Alabama linebacker Henry To'o To'o, for one, said he's never seen a running back Vaughn's size in college or even in high school.

The diminutive dynamo is listed at 5-foot-6, 176-pounds. If he's getting the extra inch and a few charity pounds that a lot of players get for their size on official college rosters, he's even smaller. Whatever he eventually measures when NFL scouts size him up without favor as a draft prospect, the consensus All-American is the tiniest threat Alabama has faced in the Nick Saban era.

Former Florida running back Brandon James, a bit-sized terror from the Crimson Tide's epic SEC Championship clashes with the Gators in 2008 and 2009, had 15 pounds on Vaughn. Former Georgia blur Isaiah McKenzie? He was 5-7.

But while James and McKenzie were known more as return specialists, the even-smaller Vaughn is an every-down back. And he's got the full attention of Crimson Tide defensive coordinator, Pete Golding, as UA prepares for K-State (11 a.m. CT, ESPN). Golding invoked former KSU star Darren Sproles, another 5-6 running back who went onto an impressive pro career, in describing Vaughn.

"He's a Sproles type. He's special with the ball in his hands and reaches top-end speed very quickly," Golding said. "But he's one of their top receivers as well, so he becomes a matchup issue of who he's on."

Vaughn is not just the perimeter threat that most undersized rushers are. With a center of gravity so low he can power through contact for extra yards even at 176 pounds, he gets plenty of action between the tackles with inside runs that he breaks for long gainers with unmatched short-area quickness.

He also runs more intricate pass routes than simply flaring out of the backfield, at times lining up in the slot. That means Alabama's best open-field tackler, Brian Branch, will likely draw some matchups with Vaughn in coverage. Limiting missed tackles on him will be of paramount importance.

"With a guy like that, you don't want to be out of control. He's got a nice mix of speed and power, so it's more important to get him on the ground than look for the big hit," said safety DeMarcco Hellams.

That's much easier said than done, and this isn't the dominant Alabama defense of years past that would swallow running backs whole at the line of scrimmage. The Crimson Tide should win the Sugar Bowl on the strength of an offense led by one of the game's elite quarterbacks in Bryce Young. Call it 34-24.

But shutting down Vaughn in the process?

Won't happen.

Reach Chase Goodbread at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Sugar Bowl: Deuce Vaughn challenge tough for Alabama football defense