ARLINGTON, Texas -- Alabama didn’t need its Heisman winner to dismantle No. 3 Michigan State, 38-0, at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic Thursday night. Derrick Henry put an exclamation point on the end of a Bama beatdown, but it was the Tide’s other stars that shined in Texas, none brighter than quarterback Jake Coker.
The Spartans were determined not to let Alabama run through them Thursday night. So the Tide decided to go over them and around them instead. Coker threw for a season-high 286 yards, including two touchdown passes to Freshman All-America receiver Calvin Ridley.