Michigan State jumps to No. 1 in AP Top 25

Michigan State were fortunate Iowa couldn’t breakthrough and capitalize on spartis offensive miscues during the big 10 championship. but this time they face a better and more explosive offense when they play Alabama in the Cotton Bowl. A swat saved Oklahoma’s season.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports picks Oklahoma to finish the College Football Playoff with the national championship.

No. 2 Alabama (12-1, 7-1 SEC) will next face off against No. 3 Michigan State (12-1, 7-1 Big Ten), which is coached by former Saban disciple Mark Dantonio, in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl playoff semifinal.

No drama. No complaints. No complaints. Nothing at all like the week-to-week mayhem – with one once-in-a-lifetime-play after another – that made the season memorable. However, the top four teams will be facing some surprise games on New Years Eve.

Selection committee chairman Jeff Long said there were some on the committee who felt that Oklahoma should be No. 1.

“Any of those four, the way they’re playing, are justified to be where they are”, Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said. “We’ve always played a pretty good one but we’ve played a lot of pretty good teams early”. This was a hanging contrast to the playoff’s debut yr, when the committee ignored a pair of worthy Big 12 teams, TCU & Baylor, & bumped up Ohio State to take the ultimate spot. The winners will meet January 11, 2016 in Glendale, Arizona. The top two teams, Alabama and Clemson, won their conference title games, while No. 3 Oklahoma did not play. Alabama is at number two going to Dallas.

The same emotional response would have kept Clemson ahead of Ohio State if North Carolina had rallied to defeat the No. 1 Tigers. He’s adapted to that, and to our personnel very well, and he handles it. We’re seeing as we go along — it’s getting better and better with our matchups. The SEC on the other has Alabama…and then who? Oklahoma’s balance? Its dual-threat quarterback?

If you’re a Clemson football fan looking for tickets, I’d tell you to keep searching around because if no one buys up the tickets within the next couple of weeks, ticket sellers will begin to drop their prices. He and the entire running game will be tested against Alabama, but if Scott can provide the same sort of spark he did in the Big Ten title game, it would be huge for the Michigan State offense.

He explains that the six-week break before the game gives plenty of time for players to get healthy again and for coaches to break down “way too much tape, and these coaches have a habit of doing that”.

In case you were wondering, Oklahoma and Clemson have met four times in history, with the two teams splitting the four games.

L.J. Scott’s late lunge did more than put the ball across the goal line – it all but certainly put No. 5 Michigan State in the College Football Playoff. The Golden Bears feature star quarterback Jared Goff as the future of head coach Sonny Dykes remains muddled, with the university and Dykes still haggling over a contract extension. The play was dubbed Michigan State’s Miracle, but in some ways it symbolized the Spartans’ greatest traits.

“Dantonio’s teams, they live to be the underdog”.

Those qualities should serve them well against an Alabama team that is favored by nine points, but has rarely been challenged deep into the fourth quarter. After the Texas loss, the Sooners averaged 299.9 yards rushing in their next seven games, all wins. The Sooners did not play tough. They will try to run away from him, but Calhoun looks determined to go out on top in his final season with the Spartans.