Grade: The New Years holiday is tied to a sense of newness, but after everything that has changed in college football over the last two years this Alabama team looks like a movie we’ve seen before – three times in four years, to be exact.
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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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Alabama (13-1) will face No. 1 Clemson on January 11 in Arizona looking for its fourth national title in nine seasons under coach Nick Saban. He has been an impact player all season for the Tigers with 71 tackles, seven tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and a nifty interception late in the Orange Bowl against Oklahoma. Nobody can know how long Saban, who’s 64 years old, plans to coach, but nobody should ever wonder again if he or Alabama are sliding.
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Neither keeper had a save of note to make in the closing stages, as Leicester finished strongly to earn a deserved point. Manchester City continued their awful away record as they failed to win on the road for the sixth game running.
“Once we settled down, we hit some big plays on them, which was really important”, Saban said.
“They played in a more physical way than we did”, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. Whether it’s the same dynasty or not, this is certainly the same program that it’s been – a team that can win 38-0 in a game that feels even more dominant than that. We were a little too complacent and I take responsibility for that.
The Spartans’ offense finally came alive in the final seconds of the half, Cook completing 5-of-6 passes to move the ball to the Alabama 12.
Jake Coker played the game of his career, hooking up with Calvin Ridley for two touchdowns, and going 25 for 30 for a career-best 286 yards.
“I knew that we would be here”, Swinney said.
Midway through the second, Jake Coker launched the ball and found Calvin Ridley for a 50-yard pass all the way to the Michigan State 1-yard line.
“Last year we sort of just participated in the game”, he said.
The turning point of the game came at the end of the second half, after Alabama made a field goal to put the Tide up 10. The Spartans didn’t get a single first down in the entire game. The biggest issue for the Spartans will be replacing Connor Cook, who will leave East Lansing as the school’s all-time greatest quarterback. The senior was sacked four times and intercepted twice. This one went for a touchdown and turned an easy win into a rout. He said his sore shoulder was fully healed and that he doesn’t need offseason surgery. Speaking of zip, Alabama simply smothered overmatched Michigan State 38-0, outgaining the Spartans 440 yards to 239.
It follows that what Cook and the Spartans saw in the first half must’ve looked like old film. Michigan State will return to East Lansing, wondering whatever happened to its dream season.
It appeared that defense would rule the day for both sides until Alabama began to open it up more than halfway through the second quarter.
Ridley was unstoppable all night, finishing with eight catches for 138 yards and two scores. He has also run for 1,032 yards and 12 scores.
There was no flinching in a bruising first quarter that featured zero points and five punts. The Spartans took it inside the Alabama 45 only once in six possessions, with that trip reaching the red zone before an interception. Cyrus Jones is one you can’t miss, although Michigan State did a good job limiting the senior’s chances in a punt-filled first half. Coker delivered the best performance of his career in Alabama’s biggest game of the season to date. Henry, who’s up to 25 touchdowns, has also scored in an NCAA-best 19 consecutive games….
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Michigan State still has negative yards rushing in the Cotton Bowl. Alabama played there several times, including a season-opening win over Wisconsin.
