Nick Saban said he saw something in his team coming into the Cotton Bowl that he had never seen before. “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”.
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Alabama took complete command in the third quarter and put the game away.
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What happened: Late in the first quarter, the Sooners led 7-3 and appeared to be cruising down the field toward another touchdown. He said he suffered the injury on the first series, but went back out for another series in an effort to play through the pain.
Ridley broke Amari Cooper’s freshman record at Alabama for yards receiving (1,000, 2012), his 138-yard performance against MSU giving him 1,031 yards heading into the CFP national title game on January 11 in Glendale, Arizona.
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Yes, Barea with his career-high 32 points, contributed to this “incredible shot-making” night when he converted 13 of 20 shots. He’s posting top-20 value in 9-cat leagues this season, unbelievably, and has just one DNP in 29 games.
“The focus that we had for this game was completely different than we’ve ever had”, Saban said. The No. 3 Spartans (12-2) earned that opportunity as Big Ten champs, justified it with 25 dead-even minutes against the No. 2 Crimson Tide (13-1), then let things go 1980s Super Bowl on them thanks to four game-deciding plays.
Saban, who along with Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said their teams both fell short of success previous year despite both finishing in the top five of the College Football Playoff poll, lamented the disappearance of the positive reinforcement that normally came with reaching a prestigious bowl game. The freshman Ridley was brilliant, streaking by defenders on deep throws and outfighting them on jump balls.
There was discussion of Heisman Trophy winning tailback Derrick Henry being under-utilized in the game, although he did score two touchdowns. (OK, I might be insane but not in this case.) As alternately goofy and disastrous as Kiffin has been as a head coach, he has been a very good offensive coordinator in Tuscaloosa and done wonders developing two quarterbacks of obviously limited talent – Blake Sims last year and Jake Coker this year.
On the right side of the sheet were the stats for Alabama, which has been led by senior quarterback Jake Coker.
Alabama is favored by six to seven points. Henry got a chest bump from a lineman and some pats on the helmet before taking a seat next to a fan to cool off.
The chants of “S-E-C!” They started this season with a 35-17 win against Wisconsin, another Big Ten team, on September 5.
But MSU junior cornerback Darian Hicks said it’s only a matter of time before the Spartans get their swagger back again despite their loss Thursday in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl.
After being humbled by Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes last season, the coach of the Crimson Tide took some heat in the offseason by talking about possible distractions his team faced leading up to the loss to Ohio State.
They talked about how some players were too concerned about where they would be drafted or partying on Bourbon Street last season. In chilly Dallas there was nothing to do but practice and that was fine by them.
“This is no surprise”, Allen said. So I think this was a great team win for us.
“We have a lot of respect for Michigan State’s defense”. 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.
Instead it was a knockout.
Three-time Rose Bowl starter Kevin Hogan passed for 223 yards and three TDs in his final game for the Cardinal (12-2) as this unlikely Bay Area football powerhouse won the Granddaddy of Them All for the second time in three trips over the past four years.
The Tide came out trying to loosen up a Michigan State defense that typically sells out to stop the run. When that happens, you get behind the chains and you’re forced to throw.
Call this what it was: An old school SEC football woodshedding, served up by the best game-day coach in the business. Coker found Ridley in the end zone. Cook leaves with a 34-5 record as a starter. Oklahoma had averaged 299.9 rushing yards during its previous seven games. Alabama hasn’t lost to them in more than a century.
Michigan State could not score a single point against Bama.
Ala – Henry 11 run (Griffith kick), 7:52.
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Henry has 30 yards on 11 carries.
