Tide’s 5 straight TDs fuel Sugar Bowl win

No. 5 Alabama reeled off five consecutive touchdowns to erase an early 10-0 Kansas State lead, and the Crimson Tide went on to win the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans 45-20 on Saturday.

Deuce Vaughn put the Wildcats up by 10 points with an 88yard touchdown run with 3:26 left in the first quarter. The Crimson Tide answered with a 6-yard touchdown catch by Isaiah Bond to close the quarter, then followed with scores from Cameron Latu, Jermaine Burton, Ja’Corey Brooks and Jase McClellan to forge a 35-10 lead.

Alabama quarterback Bryce Young threw five touchdown passes, finishing 15-for-21 for 321 yards.

Iowa managed just 206 yards of total offense, but picksixes by Xavier Nwankpa and Cooper DeJean powered the Hawkeyes to a 21-0 win over Kentucky in the Music City Bowl in Nashville.

No. 2 UConn dealt first loss of season

Zach Freemantle scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and Colby Jones also scored 16, helping No. 22 Xavier hand No. 2 UConn its first loss of the season, 83-73, in Cincinnati.

Jack Nunge started the game for Xavier (12-3, 4-0 Big East), despite an illness that limited him during warmups. He didn’t rejoin the team after halftime until a couple of minutes into the half but finished with 15 points in 24 minutes. Jerome Hunter also had 15.

UConn (14-1, 3-1) was off to its best start since beginning the 1998-99 season 19-0.

No. 13 Virginia used a 25-0 run spanning the first and second halves to overwhelm Georgia Tech 74-56, a victory that pushed Tony Bennett into a tie with Terry Holland for the most coaching wins (326) in Cavaliers history . ... Ryan Young came off the bench for a season-high 20 points, Jaylen Blakes scored 17 points in his first career start and No. 17 Duke beat visiting Florida State 86-67 . ... Mike Miles Jr. scored 23 points, and No. 18 TCU rallied in the second half for a 67-61 home victory over Texas Tech in the Big 12 opener for both teams . ... Oscar Tshiebwe had 24 points and 14 rebounds, Jacob Toppin added a career-high 24 points and No. 19 Kentucky shot a season-best 60% to dominate visiting Louisville 86-63.

Jayla Everett scored 20 points and women’s No. 25 St. John’s dominated the second quarter to roll to a 68-48 win over host Georgetown, extending the best start in Red Storm history to 13-0.

NFL: A review by the NFL and its players association determined that Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa didn’t need to go into concussion protocol during the team’s game against Green Bay because he wasn’t showing signs of a head injury at the time.

Tagovailoa didn’t report symptoms of a concussion until a day after his team’s Christmas Day loss to the Packers, “at which time the team medical personnel appropriately evaluated and placed Mr. Tagovailoa in the concussion protocol,” according to a joint statement released Saturday.

Tagovailoa has been ruled out for Miami’s game at New England on Sunday after suffering the concussion against Green Bay.

Soccer: Arsenal stretched its English Premier League lead to seven points with a 4-2 win at Brighton capped by a breakaway goal from Gabriel Martinelli.

Goals from Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Eddie Nketiah had Arsenal 3-0 up by the 47th minute and seemingly cruising to an easy win, but Kaoru Mitoma kept Brighton in the game with a goal 25 minutes from time.

Odegaard then provided a throughball for Martinelli to race half the length of the field and poke in a fourth to restore the three-goal advantage.

In other EPL action, Demarai Gray scored a spectacular equalizer as Everton drew host Manchester City 1-1 . ... Marcus Rashford came off the bench after being dropped for oversleeping and missing a team meeting to score the winner in Manchester United’s 1-0 victory over host Wolverhampton.