The ‘Bama coach led Michigan State from 1995-99, with current Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio on his staff. Saban said his former assistant has outperformed his expectations in East Lansing.
Advertisement
As the only program to reach the first two College Football Playoffs, Alabama lacks such disappointment nowadays.
Michigan State’s defense looked like an impostor earlier in the season. Each of the four teams that will take part in the Playoff won their conference’s crown. Ask Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban why Henry carried the ball 90 times in the last two games, and he will tell you that’s the best way for his team to win.
After the conference championship games on Saturday afternoon, there wasn’t much drama left as to which four teams would be competing in the College Football Playoff this season.
Nick Saban’s team is only one of the four selected to play December 31, and the Crimson Tide is neither the No. 1-ranked team nor the defending champion.
I typically loathe comparisons between the college football and college basketball postseasons, probably because for years the lords of the BCS used the NCAA tournament’s effect on the regular season as a (flawed) argument against a football playoff.
This breakthrough season, Baker Mayfield has 35 touchdown passes to only five interceptions, has Heisman Trophy candidacy and has Oklahoma sparkling to such degree that quarterback connoisseurs will savor his match opposite Clemson star Deshaun Watson, whose injury kept him out of that bowl game.
McCaffrey already has the FBS record for all-purpose yards in a season and will face a tough challenge with a swarming Hawkeyes defense that gave up only 18.5 points per game this season.
Michigan State rebounded with a big win over defending national champion Ohio State on a last second field goal in Columbus.
Undefeated ACC champion Clemson is the committee’s No. 1 seed and will play No. 4 Oklahoma, the Big 12 champ, in the Orange Bowl.
He says the Spartans’ “body of work was just slightly ahead of Oklahoma”. They had a big physical back, and they got a physical offensive line. And that’s – that really is more what I saw.
It had Clemson (13-0) as “a clear-cut number one” over Alabama (12-1), as committee chairman Jeff Long put it. It had Michigan State (12-1) nudging past Oklahoma (11-1) into No. 3 on the strength of two wins over fellow top-10 sorts who would have gone unbeaten otherwise. The winners will meet in the national championship game on Monday, Jan. 11, at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Aside from coaching ties, the teams are built similarly heading into an 8 p.m. matchup at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. “To go to No. 3 and jump Oklahoma is not a surprise to me”. They had been ranked No. 5 last week, behind then-No. Stanford moves up to No. 5 after winning the Pac-12 title. Michigan State won the Big Ten championship 16-13 over Iowa, with freshman L.J. Scott lunging forward for a 1-yard TD in the final minute that capped an epic 22-play drive.
The selection committee revealed the pairings for second playoff Sunday, a day after the top teams eliminated any controversy about who should be in the final four.
There could be a few changes near the top of the AP poll following Saturday night’s conference title games. Alabama beat Florida on Saturday while Michigan State edged Iowa. Those factors, which Saban originally borrowed from legendary Kent State and Washington coach Don James, have helped Dantonio’s staff become perhaps the best group of talent evaluators in the country.
Advertisement
The Sooners who played in last year’s game in Orlando should have extra motivation to beat the Tigers after being humbled so thoroughly.
