Alabama routs Michigan State, will face Clemson in national title game

The No. 2 Tide convincingly punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff national championship game by dismantling No. 3 Michigan State 38-0 on New Year’s Eve in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium.

Michigan State fans will want to forget a game that provided these two lasting images – Cyrus Jones high-stepping to the end zone during a 57-yard punt return and Calvin Ridley needing oxygen after torching the Michigan State secondary on a 50-yard touchdown. It continued in the second half, as the Alabama defensive line manhandled the Spartan front all night.

“(Alabama) Played a great game”, Dantonio said.

ARLINGTON, Texas-Alabama is playing for college football’s national championship. Cook, under a heavy rush, finished only 19 of 39 for 210 yards with two picks.

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.

Saban improved to 4-3 in BCS/CFP games at Alabama. The 75-yard Tide drive was helped by a pair of hands-to-the-face penalties by Michigan State. I couldn’t be prouder, ” Coker said”. He has rushed for 1,032 yards and 12 touchdowns. Cook and the Spartans drove down the field in just over a minute to Alabama’s 12 yard line, but an interception by Cook ended the threat.

Alabama kicker Adam Griffith added a 47-yard field goal to put the Tide up 10-0 late in the second.

Meanwhile, Alabama’s offense was methodical, though it relied more on the arm of Jake Coker than many assumed.

In 14 first-quarter snaps, the Spartans called seven running plays and gained a total of two yards. Ridley made it 31-0 with another 50-yard catch and, with one more touchdown, Henry made it a humiliation.

The Tide took it but not the way it had done for so much of this season – at least offensively.

Behind its Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback, Deshaun Watson, Clemson is 14-0 entering the national championship game, which will be played January 11 in Arizona. Henry’s touchdown run was his 24th, breaking the Southeastern Conference record for rushing TDs in a season (previously held by Auburn’s Tre Mason in 2013 and Florida’s Tim Tebow in 2006). Coker played the best game of his career, going 25-of-30 for 286 yards and two touchdowns.

“The inability to run the run the football consistently hurt us”, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said. If he wasn’t ready to go, I don’t think he would have played.

Even though this has been Kiffin’s second year as Alabama’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach some people are still trying to wrap themselves around the fact that he’s even with the Crimson Tide at all.

Best play: There were none for Michigan State.

Things were clearly different against Michigan State, a program that averaged 32 points per game this season.

There was no flinching in a bruising first quarter that featured zero points and five punts. I think he did a great job of reading it and that was effective for us early in the game.

Watson got off to a slow start passing, but came back to complete 16 of 31 for 187 yards, including a 35-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow that gave Clemson some breathing room late in the third quarter.

“We’d like to enjoy this game for 24 hours, but Clemson’s got a great team”, he said. We had some really good practices and I thought our kids really played well.

So is winning four straight bowl games over the likes of Georgia, TCU, Stanford and Baylor.

Michigan State busted assignments, coverages and plays as the Crimson Tide overwhelmed the Spartans in a 38-0 throttling in the Cotton Bowl semifinal. Michigan State’s best hope was to keep it close into the fourth quarter and maybe catch a break, but Alabama wouldn’t allow it.