Inside Alabama game plan that shut down Michigan State offense

The loss still stung.

But he reemerged Thursday in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

As for Henry, McDowell said he felt the Spartans have played better tailbacks. Nick Saban had his massive strategy on display on the biggest stage. That’s where the criticism of Cook should stop in the aftermath of Michigan State’s blowout loss to the Crimson Tide. It wasn’t just the offensive display; it was the defense limiting Michigan State’s run game by allowing them to run for 29 yards.

Alabama Crimson Tide advances to the College Football Playoff National Championship in Glendale, Arizona.

“I’m really, really proud of our team”, Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “This year we wanted to take the game”.

Coming off of his Heisman Trophy-winning season, most fans expected Alabama running back Derrick Henry to get the football often.

The performance was in stark contrast to the 42-41 win over the Bears, when Cook had two touchdown passes to help wipe out a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Conventional wisdom on beating Alabama was to take away the run and make Coker, the promising Florida State transfer who sat the bench most of last season, win the game.

However, given an interesting set of circumstances in the football world, should Alabama beat Clemson on the 11th, may it end up being the last game of the Saban era in Tuscaloosa? Las Vegas released its’ opening odds on the match-up last night just a little after Alabama dominated Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl.

“There’s going to be a number of times where they throw the ball deep”, Tressel added. Defensively, the Cardinal held the Hawkeyes to 48 rushing yards while sacking Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard seven times and returning an interception for a touchdown.

After a scoreless first quarter, the teams continued in a standoff well into the second quarter until the Tide moved 80 yards in six plays to a touchdown to break on top, 7-0, on a 1-yard run by Henry with 5:36 left in the first half.

Alabama isn’t interested in style points.

Clemson trailed by a point before outscoring Oklahoma 21-0 in the second half of a 37-17 rout of the fourth-ranked Sooners.

As Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said after reaching the title game: “Our team has shown heart, had guts all year long”. The defense did the rest, shutting down Baker Mayfield and Oklahoma’s prolific offense even after losing star defensive end Shaq Lawson to a knee injury early in the game.

Clemson has had 10 straight games of 500 yards or more on offense, powering to an undefeated season, an ACC title and the chance to try for the program’s first national title since 1981.

“Just got to keep the focus we had in preparation for this game”, Coker said.

“No. 16 [Burbridge], their best receiver, he has around 40 more targets throughout the year than anyone else, so there were a lot of times that we were doubling him, playing coverages where they couldn’t get him the ball and eliminating him”, Humphrey said. Despite the fact that I had this as a close game, it wasn’t surprising to see the Crimson Tide perform like this.

Clemson’s fleet-footed Deshaun Watson will represent a bigger challenge than MSU’s Connor Cook, but this is the best defensive front he will face this season. The pass rush was there but obviously we’ve got to go out there-there’s no excuse for that.

Watson had 145 yards on 24 carries and the Tigers’ first touchdown on a 5-yard run.