Dabo Swinney was making good on his pizza party promise.
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The Iowa Hawkeyes have made all the clutch plays this season. Alabama players were allowed to sleep in.
Michigan State won the Big Ten championship 16-13 over Iowa on Saturday night, and Saban was pulling for his former team and assistant while watching the epic 22-play drive that ended with freshman L.J. Scott lunging forward for a 1-yard touchdown in the final minute.
In Tuscaloosa, Ala., where the Tide is preparing for a second straight playoff appearance, it was just another Sunday.
A 10-yard holding penalty put Iowa in a second-and-20 situation at its 15-yard line when Beathard found Smith on a post pattern for the go-ahead score. They have the top receiving duo in the country in Daniel Braverman and Corey Davis. Coming into the program in 1994, the Spartans were hoping for a Rose Bowl, but a couple of early losses dampened those aspirations drastically.
But in this day and age of college football, a birth in the playoffs and a shot at the national championship is the ultimate goal for every team in the conference and that’s what Michigan State has been able to do.
For the playoff teams, a series of season-saving moments and turning points have brought them two wins away from a national championship. The play was dubbed Michigan State’s Miracle, but in some ways it symbolized the Spartans’ greatest traits.
It was the fewest points scored in a first half all season for each team – and it marked the first time in the five-year title game that neither team scored a touchdown in the first half.
Bacon tells us the Spartan’s one exploitable weakness will be their defensive backs, “the farthest back guys on the defense”, and he’s sure Alabama coach Nick Saban will plan for it.
Perhaps the biggest debate was Michigan State finishing ahead of Oklahoma. “The 6’4”, 220-pounder was also selected the Big Ten’s first-team quarterback by conference coaches and media, and will have a chance to make an even bigger statement in Michigan State’s Cotton Bowl semifinal matchup with Alabama on New Year’s Eve. It was slow going from there, but that suited the Spartans just fine.
Oklahoma will be in the Orange for the 19th time, the most of any school. The Wolverines finished the season 9-3, 6-2 in the Big Ten. When I went and saw practice, I saw players communicating with each other, trusting in each other, attention to detail. Because of that, Elliott was anxious to achieve success against MI, and he ignited the offense with a 66-yard run on the Buckeyes’ second drive of the game. Rutgers earned a victory over North Carolina in the inaugural Quick Lane Bowl last season.
When the teams square off at the Cotton Bowl on December 31, it will be a clash of similar styles. No. 23 Cincinnati is at No. 12 Xavier on Saturday. Iowa drops two spots to sixth after its first loss.
Just a couple days removed from winning the Big Ten football championship, the Michigan State Spartans have taken over the No. 1 spot in this week’s release of the Associated Press Top 25 men’s basketball poll, announced this afternoon. Alabama is the only team that also played in the first four-team playoff last season, but lost 42-35 to eventual national champion Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl.
Michigan State has been their usual selves when it comes to rebounding and defense. The Spartans’ four-game bowl winning streak matches the longest in Big Ten history, and is the longest active streak in the FBS.
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Going into the game, Iowa was No. 4 in the College Football Ranking, with Michigan State No. 5.
