Coker was on point, and that led to a 50-yard touchdown that led to one of the finishing touches on a 38-0 blowout against Michigan State at the Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal at AT&T Stadium on Thursday.
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Alabama routs Michigan St. to earn place in National Championship The Canadian
The only previous time Saban faced Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio was in the Capital One Bowl at the end of the 2010 season. Jones added a high-stepping 57-yard punt return touchdown for the Tide, which hardly even had to use the 242-pound Henry.
Clemson, looking to become the first team in FBS history to finish 15-0, advanced to face either Alabama or Michigan State in the January 11 finale in Arizona. Fittingly, the CFP title game will pit No. 1 seed Clemson vs. No. 2 Alabama, with both teams coming off dominant wins.
Clemson pulls off clutch plays, advances to national championship
Alabama running back Derrick Henry, the Heisman Trophy victor , banged out for 75 tough yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. In fact, Watson never truly got into a rhythm, and one of Clemson’s most efficient passes came from its punter, Andy Teasdall.
Said junior safety Demetrious Cox: “I don’t feel like this season was unsuccessful or a failure or anything like that at all, but our goal was to get to the next game and we didn’t”. This year, the Tide exacted their revenge on the Big Ten, completely snuffing out anything the Spartans tried to do offensively.
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Meanwhile, Alabama’s offense was methodical, though it relied more on the arm of Jake Coker than many assumed. Coker had his best game as a member of the Tide (25 of 30 for 286 yards and two TDs), and for once Henry was just the supporting cast with a mere 75 yards and two TDs.
He often looked off on his throws, and certainly hassled by Alabama’s rotating band of ill-tempered trespassers up front – particularly Ryan Anderson and Jonathan Allen. I thought Jake did a great job. “He had to make the plays because they were there, and he certainly made them”. The second quarter followed a similar path until Jake Coker hit Calvin Ridley for a 50-yard pass.
After the play, the referee picked up the flag and said there was no roughing the passer since McDowell hit Coker in the chest.
When “Sweet Home Alabama” blasted through the venue in the fourth quarter, the place exploded as Alabama fans screamed “Roll Tide Roll”.
Cyrus Jones made sure his name appeared in the scoring summary when he returned a punt 57 yards to the end zone in the third quarter. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is an Alabama native who walked on to the Crimson Tide and lettered on the 1992 national championship team. Cook completed five of six passes for 71 yards to get Michigan State to the Alabama 10-yard line.
Linebacker Reggie Ragland led Alabama with seven tackles while linebacker Dillon Lee had six stops and intercepted a pass. Linebacker Ryan Anderson had four tackles, including a sack and two tackles for losses. “We got a taste of it and we feel like we don’t want this to be the last taste for the College Football Playoff that we’ll have”.
Coker began by stretching the Spartans’ defense with one pass in the flat after another.
Cook also brushed aside any speculation that he was less than 100 percent.
Las Vegas came away impressed from Alabama’s 38-0 beatdown of Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl on Thursday night. It’s perhaps unfitting, then, that his last Michigan State game transpired in such muddle.
Michigan State ran 26 times for 29 yards and spent most of the night stuck in the negatives. “That’s the first time all year that happened”. With 25 seconds left in the half, the Spartans had a first down at the Alabama 12-yard line after an 18-yard throw to Aaron Burbridge. Adam Griffith booted a 47-yard field goal several plays later to make it a 10-0 game.
It is the third time this season Michigan State has been in a scoreless game after the first quarter.
Alabama had only a slight advantage in time of possession, 32:56 to 27:04, and was only slightly better on third down conversions, the Spartans 4-16, the Tide 4-12.
Usually, it is with Derrick Henry, who was in great part responsible for Alabama being in this position with his Heisman Trophy production. LSU pitched the last shutout, beating Texas 13-0. Alabama coach Nick Saban coached at Michigan State from 1995-99, with current Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio serving as one of his assistants….
There is usually nothing about AT&T Stadium that looks old-fashioned.
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The Spartans offense couldn’t get anything going and No. 2 Alabama was eventually able to wear down the Spartans defense for a 38-0 win. Michigan State won last year’s Cotton Bowl against Baylor….
