Arlington, Texas — Michigan State wanted to see how far it had come since the last time it played Alabama, and while it didn’t play out exactly as the last meeting, the result wasn’t a whole lot different.
No. 2 Alabama broke open a tight game late in the first quarter of the Cotton Bowl on Thursday and dominated the rest of the way, beating No. 3 Michigan State, 38-0, in front of a crowd of 82,812 at AT&T Stadium.
The victory sends Alabama (13-1) to the national championship game where it will face Clemson, which beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, the first semifinal of the College Football Playoff.