Michigan State reflects positively on a season with a sour ending

No. 2 Alabama punched its 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. Jake Coker shredded the Spartans’ defense by completing 25 of his 30 passes for 286 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban joins the team in celebration after the Cotton Bowl NCAA college football semifinal playoff game against Michigan State, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, in Arlington, Texas.

Alabama (13-1) will face No. 1 Clemson (14-0) on January 11 in Arizona looking for its fourth national title in nine seasons under Saban.

“So we knew that we would have to throw the bubbles and the smokes and the outside perimeter stuff and try to get them blocked on the perimeter to be able to move the ball effectively”. In the receiving end, Calvin Ridley had 138 yards and two touchdowns in eight receptions while OJ Howard added 59 yards in three receptions.

No. 2 Alabama held the Spartans to a season-low 239 yards as linebacker Reggie Ragland and defensive end Jonathan Allen had their way Michigan State’s offensive line, combining for four sacks and six tackles for loss. On defense, the big play came back to bite the Spartans as the Tide loosened them up early with bubble screens before going deep. The Heisman finalist also ran for 145 yards on 24 carries, scoring the Tigers’ first touchdown on a 5-yard run.

The Crimson Tide kept pouring it on in the third quarter, giving Michigan State nothing on offense before Cyrus Jones returned a punt 57 yards for a touchdown to push the lead to 24-0 with 3:24 to play in the quarter.

Lane Kiffin’s play calling can be hard to read because he goes out of what you think Alabama should do.

Coker, who has completed 67.1 percent of his passes this season, conceded that he might have put too much pressure on himself last season after transferring in from Florida State.

The national championship might come down to this: Whether Clemson can find weak spots in Alabama’s defensive armor with its quick-strike offense, or whether the extra time to prepare will give the Tide time to develop a scheme capable of stopping Watson and the Tigers. This was a play that was worked on for weeks. Let’s hope this game isn’t a blowout like every other major game this bowl season.

Alabama can feel secure in a key advantage, one on clear display in the victory against Michigan State.

“We were just a little sloppy, not taking care of the ball, not finding the open man in the first half”, Obasohan said. He studied Michigan State’s defense closely, most notably games against Ohio State and Baylor. He is the 19th player in Football Bowl Subdivision history and the first in the Southeastern Conference to surpass 2,000 rushing yards. It was called an incomplete pass, but after review, it was ruled a touchdown. That’s when he threw a red-zone interception to Cyrus Jones.

McDowell said he grew a great deal from his freshman year to sophomore year, “figured out I had to listen more and talk less”.

It was the Spartans’ first shutout loss since MI blanked them 14-0 in 2000. Saban has a chance to get his fifth national title. The exciting part of this team is the way we’ve fought. But it wasn’t like those guys were super talented, way faster and way bigger than all of us, just pushing us around.