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Alabama were the dominant winners of the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day, defeating Michigan State 38-0 and booking a place in the National Championship game where they will face Orange Bowl winners Clemson.
Final score
Alabama 38
Michigan State 0
The 2015 Cotton Bowl Classic, between Alabama Crimson Tide and the Michigan State Spartans, is the second national semi-final, to be played at AT&T Stadium in Dallas. Join The Roar for live coverage from 12 midday (AEDT).
This year’s Cotton Bowl is a match-up between Alabama’s brilliant head coach Nick Saban and Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio, who was defensive coordinator under Saban at Michigan State, and took over as head coach when Saban departed.
Since then, Dantonio has elevated a program often viewed as an afterthought in Michigan compared to the historically successful Michigan Wolverine program.
In the last few years though, it’s been the other way around, with Michigan State capturing Big Ten and Rose Bowl titles, while the Wolverines are only just venturing out of the college football wilderness.
Dantonio’s team are the dominant one in Michigan, and have a chance to advance to their first National Championship game with a win in Dallas.
But that win won’t come easily against a Saban-coached Alabama squad that has been the gold standard in America for so long.
The Tide were humbled by Big Ten opponent Ohio State in a semi-final last year, and will be keen to avoid a repeat. Yet they will find it tough going against a very good Michigan defence, which has been plagued by injury this season but still managed to throttle Ohio State’s JT Barrett and Ezekiel Elliott in late November to hand the Buckeyes their first loss of the year.
Watching Alabama’s star running back – and Heisman Trophy winner – Derrick Henry go against the Michigan State front seven is going to be fascinating. If the Spartan defence can’t limit Henry’s effectiveness – a tall order – then MSU are going to find themselves in a world of trouble.
The Sparty defenders also need stop Tide quarterback Jake Coker from making too many big plays to receiver Calvin Ridley in the passing game. Coker has proven adept at making plays with his feet, too. MSU’s defensive unit is going to be stretched close to breaking point for long stretches in this one.
The other key area is this game is the performance and health of Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook. When Cook – a veteran at the controls of the Spartan offence – is healthy, he can match wits with an Alabama defence that’s number one in pretty much every statistical indicator you can think of.
Simply put, Michigan State need their quarterback to make every play asked of him, or else the Spartan run game is going to be their only real avenue of offensive output. In that situation, the Tide defence will swallow them up.
Cook needs to find veteran receiver Aaron Burbridge to ensure Alabama doesn’t stack the box, thus overwhelming Michigan’s talented but injury-ravaged offensive line, and their dependable running back LJ Scott.
If the Spartans are to have any chance of causing the upset, their offence needs to be completely in sync, scoring six rather than three, and holding the football for as long as possible. A few drives of 22 plays, as they produced to close out the Big Ten Championship Game against Iowa, would really help. Alabama can’t hurt the Spartans if Coker and co. are sitting on the sidelines.
Prediction
I just don’t think Michigan State can match Alabama stride for stride over the course of 60 minutes. The Tide will win by about ten points and advance to give the winner of Clemson vs Oklahoma more than a few issues.
Join The Roar for live coverage of the 2015 Cotton Bowl Classic from 12 midday (AEDT).
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