The good news is that the College Football Playoff selection committee clearly got it right in selecting its top two teams, a pleasant change from past year. The Spartans offensive line watched video of the 1971 Ali-Frazier fight to prepare for what it expected to be a 15-round heavyweight bout.
Advertisement
“And I’m really, really proud of this team and our players”.
The Michigan State defense was determined to contain Alabama RB Derrick Henry, and did a good job for most of the game.
“Credit goes to Alabama”. That contest, between the 13-1 Tide and 14-0 Tigers, will take place on Monday, January 11. And the last thing I want to do is look at the down side and say our last game as Spartans, we lost.
The Tide took it but not the way it had done for so much of this season – at least offensively.
McDowell said it’s possible the Spartans “might have been a little star struck” against Alabama, but he was more impressed by Jake Coker than Heisman Trophy victor Derrick Henry.
Alabama’s offense produced 440 total yards (286 passing, 154 rushing) led by senior quarterback Jake Coker’s career-best 286 passing yards and two touchdowns. Coker who sat on the bench most of last season was almost flawless.
And when Alabama added three touchdowns in the third quarter, it was time for the Spartans to face an uncertain future. The Crimson Tide actually were doing the shoveling at the Cotton Bowl last week to the tune of a 38-0 humbling of Big Ten champion Michigan State. Jonathan Allen and the ferocious Tide defensive front sacked Connor Cook four times and allowed the Spartans only one trip into the red zone which ended with Cyrus Jones interception at the goal line. He ran for 75 yards and scored two touchdowns on 20 carries.
It still wasn’t as impressive as what Alabama did in a 38-0 win over Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl.
Alabama cheerleaders celebrate win. Tide cornerback Cyrus Jones made a huge play at the end of the first half.
A team once known for such inexplicable stumbles that a derisive term was coined for it – Clemsoning – blew out the No. 4 Sooners over the final two quarters after trailing 17-16 at halftime. Saban demurred last week when asked if the crushing loss was the onus for his team’s preparation and its 2015 performance, but anyone who knows anything about competition will admit that losing to the Buckeyes still sticks in the craw of the players remaining from that team.
The defense was even more wonderful. On the other: Swinney, Alabama-born, former walk-on wide receiver and a member of the Tide’s 1992 national championship team under Gene Stallings (for whom he later coached).
“Once we settled down, we hit some big plays on them, which was really important”, Saban said. “It was just a matter of when”. “We just have to go out there and be the band of brothers that we have and work together and dominate”.
“I wasn’t surprised at all by the game [Coker] had tonight”.
Watson won’t rush for 145 yards against the Tide as he did in Clemson’s 37-17 playoff win over the Sooners in Miami.
Cook was sacked four times, intercepted two times, and looked uncomfortable in completing only 19 of 39 passes for 210 yards. Running behind defensive linemen A’Shawn Robinson and Jarran Reed, Henry punched it in for his SEC-record breaking 24th touchdown, and with 5:36 left in the first half it was 7-0 Tide.
Advertisement
“Deshaun Watson is the best player in the country”.
