No. 2 Alabama punched its ticket to the College Football Playoff national championship game by dismantling No. 3 Michigan State 38-0 on New Year’s Eve in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium.
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With the win, Alabama advanced to the College Football Playoff national championship game for a matchup with Clemson – which defeated Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on Thursday – a week from Monday in Arizona.
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Despite a pair of touchdown runs and a Heisman-pose stiff arm to the chest of a Michigan State defensive lineman, it wasn’t Derrick Henry who ignited the Alabama offense.
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Jones added a high-stepping 57-yard punt return touchdown for the Tide, which hardly even had to use the 242-pound Henry. Henry only had 75 yards in the game, but both of his touchdowns came in the second half.
And when Alabama scored less than a minute later on Coker’s 50-yard pass to Ridley for a 31-0 lead with 2:20 left in the third, the Spartans were all but done.
Breaking down No. 2 Alabama’s 38-0 victory over No. 3 Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl.
“Clemson has a great team and a great coach, ” Saban said.
Quarterback Jake Coker had a big night for Alabama. Cook stated the obvious later: “Like I said before, you watch the film and the way their defensive line played, the way their linebackers filled the gaps, the way their secondary made plays in the pass game in the back end, everyone was aware of how good of a defense they were”.
Connor Cook led a drive late in the first half-easily the Spartans best drive of the half-until he threw a pick at the Crimson Tide one-yard line to Cyrus Jones that crushed any chance for the Spartans to get on the board before the half. The freshman Ridley was brilliant, streaking by defenders on deep throws and outfighting them on jump balls. Most will say that the MSU offensive line was simply overwhelmed by a dominant opponent, but there were some costly mistakes there as well. Then he started running Henry more in the second quarter. As a future National Football League signal-caller, Cook was able to find a few yards here and there, but the Spartans only managed to put together one decent drive, completing a few passes to get into the red zone late in the first half before Cyrus Jones ended the threat with a textbook interception in single coverage. The redshirt senior who transferred to Alabama a year ago but served as Blake Sims’ backup, showed remarkable poise in the pocket, avoiding several sacks, accurate and deliberate in his decisions. The big tailback was just a role player against a Spartans defense stacked to stop the run.
The only previous time Saban faced Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio was in the Capital One Bowl at the end of the 2010 season. The Spartans were down by double digits in their last four bowl games, only to come back and win them all.
“Maybe we were a little bit too complacent, and I take responsibility for all that”, Saban said about last year’s game.
Connor Cook finished 34-5 as Michigan State’s starting quarter.
Still, against Alabama, Cook didn’t have many attempts or much success with the long ball, including two interceptions and some overthrows.
Don’t count out the Spartans yet, because Michigan State won’t go down without a fight.
Winning the Big Ten championship, as the Spartans have done two of the past three seasons, is one thing.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) – Dabo Swinney was in no mood to talk about Clemsoning.
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Saban improved to 9-0 against his former assistant coaches in impressive fashion. In by midnight the first two days in town and by 11 p.m. the last two.
