Alabama quarterback Jake Coker (14) escapes the grasp of Michigan State defensive lineman Lawrence Thomas (8) during the first half of the Cotton Bowl NCAA college football semifinal playoff game, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, in Arlington, Texas.
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The Alabama team that showed up for the playoff this season was the very same Alabama team that had come to dominate college football over the last decade-which means it wasn’t the Alabama team that had tantalized and then tortured its fans last season.
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The run at the end of the half was fueled by Westbrook, who had eight points and three assists in the second quarter alone. Nance entered the game averaging 4.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in 19 minutes per game. “There’s no sense in yelling at it”.
Oklahoma went into the semifinal averaging 235 yards rushing per game.
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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp laughed off Sam Allardyce’s ” soft German ” jibe, joking he had been called much worse. The Hammers, maybe that is more my second name than soft”.
Alabama has the ball to start the second half.
“(Alabama) Played a great game”, Dantonio said.
And, boy, they both look impressive.
Imagine what the story lines would have been today if this game had swung the other way.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is an Alabama alumnus who played on the Tide’s 1992 national championship team. The Crimson Tide has won the last 12 games in the series, the last 34-10 in the 2008 regular-season opener in Atlanta.
That was also a pivotal year for the Tigers.
Thursday’s game was the first matchup of top-five teams since 1993, when No. 5 Notre Dame beat No. 4 Texas A&M. They’ve got a really good defensive front.
With one more win, they’ll be known as something else: national champions. Throwing the ball, we stopped that. “It was just a matter of when”. Now we wait to see if the senior, a former transfer from Florida State, can run it back again on January 11 against Clemson.
Saban said his team came into this playoff with a different attitude.
“We just have a lot of athletes on the outside, and Calvin did a great job of making plays”, Coker said.
The No. 2 Tide is a seven-point favorite over No. 1 Clemson, according to Vegas Insider. A team that faced the No. 3 team in the country and annihilated them. The celebration at that point was pretty tame on the Alabama sideline.
Clemson (14-0) showed the sort of balance it will need to cope with Alabama’s stifling defense, rushing for 312 yards and passing for 218. Wayne Gallman rushed for 150 yards and a pair of TDs.
The defense was even more impressive, especially since star end Shaq Lawson was knocked out of the game in the opening minutes with a knee injury. With that said, there is still work to be done – as in getting busy with the unbeaten Clemson Tigers in Glendale. After watching Coker’s performance and poise on the game’s biggest stage, it’s awesome to think that this starting job was still up in the air after a few weeks of regular season play.
“I’m going to be back”, he vowed.
The Crimson Tide traditionally do not have problems with teams like Michigan State.
Jake Coker took a hard hit and a flag was down, but there was no penalty. With some damaging accuracy added to his usual efficiency, the senior first-year starter from Mobile, Ala., spent those first three quarters going a shining 25-for-30 for 286 yards that traded in game-changing moments. Ridley, a freshman, streaked by defenders on deep throws and outfought them on jump balls.
Ridley was unstoppable all night, finishing with eight catches for 138 yards and two scores. He said this is a special defense and they looked the part, shutting out Michigan State, holding the Spartans to 239 yards in offense, forcing two turnovers and constant harassing and beating up MSU quarterback Connor Cook (four sacks). The big tailback was just a role player against a Spartans defense stacked to stop the run. In the first half, he had 13 carries for 38 yards and a long run of six yards.
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Swinney grew up in Alabama and was a walk-on receiver and assistant coach for the Crimson Tide. “I think this year we wanted to sort of take the game and really thought our guys had a vision of what they wanted and everybody paid the price for what they had to do in preparation”.
