Cotton Bowl 2015: Highlights and Comments from Michigan State vs. Alabama

The Alabama Crimson Tide unmercifully pounded the Michigan State Spartans 38-0 on Thursday night in the Cotton Bowl/College Football Playoff Semifinal.

Earlier in the day, the Clemson Tigers defeated the Oklahoma Sooners in the first CFP semifinal. The Tide will meet the Tigers on January 11 for the national championship.

After watching the Tide dismantle the Spartans, it's hard to imagine them losing—at least to a college football team. Social media personality Dan Gheesling thinks 'Bama is on another level as well:

Sports legal analyst Exavier Pope had a similar take on the Cotton Bowl:

ESPN's Tom Rinaldi interviewed Alabama head coach Nick Saban after the game and tried to coax a smile out of him. Rinaldi was somewhat successful, but Saban stayed focused on the next task for his team. Check out an excerpt from the interview from SB Nation CFB:

The Spartans kept it close at halftime. Alabama held only a 10-0 lead at the break, but it wasted little time extinguishing Michigan State's hopes in the second half.

Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry had 75 rushing yards and two touchdowns. On his final run of the game, Henry showed off his strength and speed with this 14-yard touchdown run highlighted by a nasty stiff arm on Spartans All-American Shilique Calhoun, via Bleacher Report's Stephen Nelson:

Henry was solid, but quarterback Jacob Coker stole the show.

The sometimes inconsistent signal-caller picked a great time to play his best football. Coker completed 25 of 30 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns. Both of the scoring throws were to Calvin Ridley. 

The freshman wideout had eight receptions for 138 yards on the game. He and Coker were the stars on offense, but the man on defense and special teams was Cyrus Jones.

Late in the first half, the Spartans were driving, looking for points and some momentum heading into the halftime break. Jones would pick off Spartans quarterback Connor Cook to stop the drive and eliminate what proved to be Michigan State's only real chance to score in the game.

ESPN College Football has the entire sequence:

The senior defensive back wasn't done. He officially broke the Spartans' backs in the third quarter. After Cook was called for an intentional grounding penalty inside his 10-yard line on third down, the Spartans were forced to punt the ball.

Jones caught the low-hangtime punt from Jake Hartbarger and produced a nifty 57-yard return for a touchdown. Take a look at the high-step, hesitation move that sends Hartbarger flying on the sidelines, courtesy of iGotRecruited:

Clemson is more athletic than Michigan State at almost every position. That will help the Tigers feel better about their chances to beat Alabama, but the Tide proved quite a bit with their victory over Michigan State.

Coming into the game, the Tide were known mostly as a smashmouth team that would lean heavily on the ground game. The offense still ran the ball 35 times, but almost no one would have suspected Coker would throw it 30 times—let alone with a completion rate of 83 percent.

The Tide have proved they have more than just one way to beat teams, and that makes them that much scarier.