College Football Playoff: Alabama-Michigan State the Game to Watch

The College Football Playoff Committee has announced the teams and matchups for the 2015 College Football Playoff and Alabama V Michigan State is the game to watch.

While some fans may be missing the BCS, at least the College Football Playoff Committee is proving to be consistent in most matters.  While Baylor and TCU fans will be irritated that Oklahoma gets in the playoff this year with a far worse loss (to 7 loss Texas) than either school had last year, the committee has once again put 4 conference champions into the playoff.  This year the PAC-12 takes the Big 12’s place as the Power 5 conference not being represented in the playoff.

#1 overall seed Clemson (ACC) will face off with #4 Oklahoma (Big 12) while #2 Alabama (SEC) will match up with #3 Michigan State (Big 10) in the game to watch.  The Tigers and Sooners will face off in the Orange Bowl while the Crimson Tide and Spartans will do battle in the Cotton Bowl.

Of these two College Football Playoff matchups, Alabama v Michigan State will be the game to see.  It will put two hard nosed defenses against power run offenses with quality game managers at quarterback (by the way, “game manager” is no longer an insult).

The matchup inside the game that will be the key to the entire matchup will be Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook v the Crimson Tide defense.   Alabama has lost a total of 3 games the last two years (Ohio State, Ole Miss twice) and each time superb quarterback play has been the reason.  The Crimson Tide have shown they can slow a rushing attack to nonexistence if their isn’t serious passing threat, see the LSU and Florida games.

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It will be up to Connor Cook to have an efficient game where he throw for multiple touchdowns and protects the ball with utmost security.  If he turns the ball over (not likely, he only has 5 interceptions on the year), Michigan State will not stand a chance.

Regardless, this matchup between two of the finest coaches in college football today (Mark Dantonio and Nick Saban) will be excellent to watch, particularly for SEC fans.  There will be tough defense, power rushing and enough play action passes to keep it exciting.

While Clemson-Oklahoma is representative of the new era of college football, Alabama-Michigan State is a throwback matchup.  The great thing is, regardless of who wins either matchup, we will all get to see an old school v new school National Championship game, courtesy of the College Football Playoff.

Next: SEC Football: Tim Tebow announces 2015 SEC Freak of the Year

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