Alabama a sizable favorite over Clemson in national title game

“The focus that they had for this game was completely different from what we’ve ever had before”, Saban said.

Michigan State suffered much the same fate that others have against Alabama’s defense.

But then the game began, and it became clear that the Big Ten champion was simply overmatched.

Clemson sealed its berth in college football’s championship game by beating Oklahoma 37-17 in the Orange Bowl on Thursday, with quarterback Deshaun Watson running for one touchdown, passing for another and accounting for 332 yards.

Swinney did not know whom the opponent would be after his team defeated Oklahoma.

USA Today Sports’ Dan Wolken recaps Alabama’s 38-0 win over Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl to advance to the College Football Playoff final. Alabama won 38-0…

Alabama, playing in and winning its first Cotton Bowl since the vacated 2006 victory over Texas Tech, finished out the night and the calendar year with “Victory Formation”, performed by all 11 offensive players.

And, boy, they both look impressive.

Tweet of the game: As Alabama squeezed the life out of Michigan State’s offense and title hopes in the first half, one fan stood out as a kind of anthropomorphic representation of the Tide defense. A win against Clemson would give Alabama its fourth national title since the 2009 season; a Clemson title would be its first since 1981.

Now, he’s going against the greatest coach of this generation. After being sacked 17 times in the first 13 games of the season, Cook went down four times on Thursday.

Now, he’s got the Tigers within one win of their first national title since 1981. “It was just a matter of when”.

Nick Saban said he saw something in his team coming into the Cotton Bowl that he had never seen before.

“Maybe we were a little bit too complacent, and I take responsibility for all that”, Saban said about last year’s game. “This year we really wanted to come and make a statement and do something special”.

No. 1 Clemson and No. 2 Alabama more than validated their rankings with dominant showings in the New Year’s Eve semifinals. A team that faced the No. 3 team in the country and annihilated them. The defense did the rest, shutting down Baker Mayfield and a Sooners offense that was averaging 52 points over its previous seven games. Where it allowed 85 rushing yards on a single clinching run by Ezekiel Elliott, it allowed less than 5 percent of that (4 yards) to four Spartans running backs across the telltale first three quarters.

Watson has thrown for 3,699 yards and 31 touchdowns with just 12 interceptions.

Henry rushed for 75 yards on 20 carries.

“We had very high expectations for him”, Kiffin said of Ridley.

The defense was even more impressive, especially since star end Shaq Lawson was knocked out of the game in the opening minutes with a knee injury. With that said, there is still work to be done – as in getting busy with the unbeaten Clemson Tigers in Glendale.

“Connor Cook is a guy that can flip a game around”, the coach said.

“I’m going to be back”, he vowed.

Jake Coker was almost flawless for the Tide (13-1). Jake Coker was 25 of 30 for 286 yards with two touchdowns. Ridley, a freshman, was brilliant, streaking by defenders on deep throws and outfighting them on jump balls. Ridley made it 31-0 with another 50-yard catch and, with one more touchdown, Henry made it a humiliation.

Spartans quarterback Connor Cook passed for 210 yards and had two interceptions as Michigan State’s season ends at 12-2.

Jones would make another big play late in the game as he returned a punt 57-yards to make it 24-0. Jones reached up and made a two-handed snag for the pick, which came right after pass plays of 26 and 18 yards.