Cotton Bowl 2015: Michigan State vs. Baylor TV Info, Spread, Time and More

Baylor, fresh off its snub from college football's first-ever playoff system, will look to take out its frustrations on Michigan State in the 2015 Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium on New Year's day.

A case can be made that the Bears should have been in the playoffs, but there's no denying the fact that Alabama, Florida State, Oregon and Ohio State are equally as deserving. Baylor certainly doesn't think so, and it'll be up to Bryce Petty to hand it to the Spartans on Thursday and prove that his team deserved more recognition.

Petty's high-octane offense must try to solve the No. 7 defense in the country, however, so points won't be easy to come by. The press-coverage of the Spartans should give the senior fits all afternoon.

To see which unit prevails, be sure to tune in and watch the action. All the necessary information to follow the game is below.

When: Jan. 1, 12:30 p.m. ET

Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas

Matchup (Spread): Michigan State vs. Baylor (-3)

Over/Under: 72

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: WatchESPN

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com on December 31 at 12 a.m. ET.

Team Injury Updates

Player	Pos.	Details	Status	Injury
Travis Jackson	C	is questionable for the Cotton Bowl Thursday against Baylor	Questionable	knee
Jon Reschke	LB	is questionable for the Cotton Bowl Thursday against Baylor	Questionable	undisclosed
James Kittredge	DT	is out indefinitely	Out	lower body

Player	Pos.	Details	Status	Injury
Troy Baker	T	will miss the remainder of the season	Out	knee
Desmine Hilliard	G	will miss the remainder of the season	Out	wrist
Jamal Palmer	DE	will miss the remainder of the season	Out	knee
Devin Chafin	RB	is questionable for the Cotton Bowl Thursday against Michigan State	Questionable	elbow

Team injury reports are courtesy of the Sports Network, via USA Today.

Analysis

Michigan State better be prepared for a potent, fast, efficient offense. The Spartans have had weeks to prepare for the Baylor offense, but the best thing for the team to do now is go into the game and expect to make adjustments after the first quarter.

There's really no preparing for an offense with the speed of Baylor. The Bears rattle off so many plays per game that the Spartans defense is going to get winded quickly. Check out a side-by-side comparison of how each offense moves:

Michigan State		Baylor
76.5	Offensive Plays/Game	91.4
2.33	Offensive Plays/Minute	3.23

This has made the Bears extraordinarily difficult to stop. They have the No. 1 ranked offense in the country as a result. They were held under 38 points just twice. Once was a win over Texas, and the other was a loss to West Virginia—the lone blemish on their resume.

The game against West Virginia should provide a blueprint for Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi. The Mountaineers played press-coverage against the Bears' talented group of receivers instead of giving them a cushion off the line of scrimmage.

This physicality led to a poor performance by Petty (16-for-36, 223 yards). Petty is well aware of the fact that the Spartans defense typically does the same against wideouts.

"They man-up at the corners, which is tough, so you funnel everything inside," he told Mike Griffith of MLivecom. "That's the thing. There are areas we want to attack, but at the same time one of their corners is a top 15 guy (Trae Waynes) and (Tony) Lippett is just as good, too.''

The elimination of slant routes and short curls will make it extremely difficult for Petty to have his way with the Spartans secondary. This does open up the deep passing game, though, and wide receivers Corey Coleman, KD Cannon, Antwan Goodley and Jay Lee will have a chance to show off their speed.

Their longest touchdowns this year went for 72, 89, 66 and 65 yards, respectively, so it's clear that this offense will rip off long gains through the air from time to time.

Aware of this speed, Griffith writes that the Spartans have been preparing for the deep route:

"

The Michigan State secondary, beaten badly for touchdowns in the losses to the [Oregon] Ducks and the [Ohio State] Buckeyes, said they, too, having been focusing on conditioning so they can be a tip-top speed for Baylor.

Coach Mark Dantonio said on his radio show on Thursday night that Bears coach Art Briles will call for at least 16 deep passes in the game.

"

That many deep balls will put the nail in the coffin if the Spartans can't keep up with Baylor's crop of wideouts. Of course, the press-coverage at the line of scrimmage should help to alter routes or, at the very least, Petty's timing. That'll work to their advantage.

Needless to say, the key to this game lies in the ability of the secondary to prevent Petty from going over the top. Weeks of preparation will help their efforts, but the Spartans were burned too recently for a major change to be expected.

A strong defense will generally beat a top-notch offense, but the weakness of the secondary should make you weary to side with Michigan State.

Prediction: Baylor 31, Michigan State 27

Follow Kenny DeJohn on Twitter: @kennydejohn