Nighmare End For Michigan State’s Dream Season

Alabama dominated Michigan State Thursday night in the Dallas Cowboys Stadium with the first shutout in the Cotton Bowl since 1963 (LSU 13, Texas 0) and the third most lopsided score in the history of the bowl game.

The Crimson Tide will face top – ranked Clemson for the National Championship January 11 th in Arizona.

“We’ve had really good punt returns this year”, said Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who won his ninth career bowl game.

Adam Griffith’s 47-yard field goal made it 10-0. On the other hand, this was a disappointing end to Michigan State’s incredible season and the Connor Cook era, which included a pair of Big Ten titles.

ARLINGTON, Texas | December had been Derrick Henry’s month.

It follows that what Cook and the Spartans saw in the first half must’ve looked like old film.

In 14 first-quarter snaps, the Spartans called seven running plays and gained a total of two yards. He went 25-for-30 for a career-high 286 yards and two touchdowns in the 38-0 Cotton Bowl win and was named most outstanding offensive player.

Not only was Coker making the right decisions within the Alabama offense, he was making the right throws.

We’ll have much more to come, but get caught up on the basics you need to know ahead of college football’s second-ever Playoff Championship. Alabama and Clemson rolled over their opponents in the second half Thursday and barreled their way into college football’s national title game.

For Big Ten champion Michigan State (12-2), this was a jolting climax to a highly successful run by this year’s senior class, which finished 43-11 for four years.

Thursday’s Cotton Bowl began as the defensive struggle most expected with the teams combining for 87 yards in a scoreless first quarter. Derrick Henry didn’t exactly look the part of a Heisman Trophy victor – he ran the ball 20 times for 75 yards – but that’s okay, because Calvin Ridley did, grabbing eight receptions for 138 yards.

Things started to change midway through the second quarter, shortly after Michigan State cornerback Darian Hicks took the brunt of a Henry hit and had to leave the game. “They’re undefeated. They’ve got a great program, so I’m sure our guys are going to be motivated to play the best they can”. But any chance Michigan State had of a comeback would be based on suddenly backing up the Alabama defense, and that just wasn’t going to happen. Jones did most of it on his own in heading down the sideline, giving a little hesitation move about the 25, and taking it in for his Alabama record fourth punt return for a touchdown and a 24-0 lead.

Michigan State embraced its role as the underdog and came in expecting to slug it out with the Tide and it smothering defense and hammering Heisman victor. “It’s a catch-22 situation”, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said. Finally getting some time, Cook made a couple of lovely throws to get the Spartans down to the Alabama 12. Earlier Clemson defeated No. 4 Oklahoma 37-17 in the Orange Bowl. “So that made a difference in the game in his ability to operate”. “We had great practices every day”.

The second long completion to Ridley, in the third quarter, was a 50-yard touchdown pass to make the score 31-0 as Alabama continued its rout.

Where it allowed 85 rushing yards on a single clinching run by Ezekiel Elliott, it allowed less than 5 percent of that (four yards) to four Spartans running backs across the telltale first three quarters.

Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook, 34-4 as a starter, is 9 of 18 for 133 yards and an interception just before the break. He completed 19-of-39 passes for 209 yards and was intercepted twice.

Reggie Ragland led the Tide with 7 tackles and broke up a pass. Lee had 6 tackles, including being in on one for a loss, in addition to his interception.

“Calvin Ridley had never played, Jake had never played and we had nine new starters on offense and Richard Mullaney, the third receiver [transferred] from Oregon State”, Kiffin said.