Alabama Rolls Over Michigan State in Cotton Bowl

There were plenty of outside distractions and detractors – trash talk from Oklahoma was prevalent throughout the week, and even former West Virginia players were using social media to pile on after Oklahoma’s touchdown on the game’s first drive.

“I know whatever they try to do”, Alabama receiver Richard Mullaney said, “we’ll have an answer and we’ll be ready”.

The Crimson Tide traditionally do not have problems with teams like Michigan State. The Spartans were shut out for the first time since 2000.

The No. 2 Crimson Tide will play No. 1 Clemson in Arizona on January 11.

“We’d like to enjoy this game for 24 hours, but Clemson’s got a great team”, Saban said Thursday night.

“Well, I don’t think we gave it our all out there”, said MSU sophomore defensive tackle Malik McDowell.

The Tide took it but not the way it had done for so much of this season – at least offensively. The Tigers ran for 312 yards against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, 319 in their ACC Championship Game win over North Carolina, and 236 against rival SC.

Alabama has been installed as a touchdown favorite in the title game.

Alabama made it 38-0 when Henry had his second touchdown of the night-this time from 11 yards out-which was set up two plays earlier on a Kenyan Drake 58-yard run.

ESPN and its sister network ABC, both owned by Disney, did their best to encourage fans to work football into their New Year’s Eve party plans.

“You know, that’s 17 in a row for us”.

McCaffrey caught a 75-yard touchdown pass on the opening snap and returned a punt 66 yards for another score while setting the Rose Bowl record with 368 all-purpose yards, propelling No. 5 Stanford to a 45-16 victory over the sixth-ranked Hawkeyes on Friday.

Jonathan Allen and the ferocious Tide defensive front sacked Connor Cook four times and allowed the Spartans only one trip into the red zone – which ended with Cyrus Jones interception at the goal line. Hogan appeared to fake a fumble in the second quarter before popping up and throwing to an untouched Rector for a 31-yard score making it 35-0 at halftime. The celebration at that point was pretty tame on the Alabama sideline. AT&T Stadium in North Texas – where Alabama started its season by blowing out a Big Ten team (Wisconsin) – had turned into Tuscaloosa west. Happy New Year, indeed.

“O.J. handles it really well”, Coker said.

The dramatic matchups and results of last year’s games helped draw record-breaking cable audiences for last year’s first College Football Playoff. This was done to soften Michigan State up for a big throw down the field and it worked to perfection.

“We didn’t get it done collectively”. 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. The players set the curfews this week. The ball went out of bounds and the Spartans were credited with their first of two sacks.

Michigan State embraced its role as the underdog and came in expecting to slug it out with the Tide. 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.

“The inability to run the run the football consistently hurt us”, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said.

On the right side of the sheet were the stats for Alabama, which has been led by senior quarterback Jake Coker.

“I think people’s a little starstruck out there”, McDowell claimed. It was Alabama at its best and it looked downright terrifying to be on the other end.