Prep basketball: Greensboro wins D.J. White Holiday Tournament. 8C
Sports
S U N D A Y , J A N U A R Y 2 , 2011
SECTION C
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
49
7
Alabama notebook
Turning up the heat
Going backwards
NFL decision looms large for UA underclassmen | 4C
Tide defense puts the pressure on Spartan QBs; gets 5 sacks | 5C
Quarter glance
Held in check
Alabama’s defense stops Spartans’ ground game dead in its tracks. MSU had minus-48 yards rushing | 6C
Breakdown of each quarter | 4C
Offensive line contains MSU All-American linebacker | 5C
Game stats
Proper sendoff
Complete stats from the Capital One Bowl | 4C
McElroy ends career with big passing day, win | 5C
Reality bites Michigan State program gets heavy dose of reality on where it stands on the national football landscape | 6C
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT No. 15 Tide caps season with near-perfect effort in victory over Spartans By Cecil Hurt Sports Editor
ORLANDO | The University of Alabama found what it had been looking for all season on Saturday — which was bad, bad news for Michigan State. The Crimson Tide finally put together the 60-minute performance it had been seeking all season and the result was a 49-7 crushing of Michigan State in the Capital One Bowl on Saturday. Alabama dominated both lines of scrimmage from the outset, scored touchdowns on its first five possessions and finished with its most onesided bowl win since a 61-6 drubbing of Syracuse nearly 60 years ago. “We were outcoached, we were outplayed and that’s just the way it is,” said Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio. “Sometimes there’s an avalanche that comes upon you.” Among many school records set by the Crimson Tide, perhaps the most impressive was the fact it held Michigan State — a team described by UA defensive coordinator Kirby Smart as “stubbornly committed to the run” — to a minus-48 yards on the ground. In the process, UA knocked two Michigan State quarterbacks out of the game. “I would say our quarterbacks got hit SEE TIDE | 6C
STAFF PHOTO | ROBERT SUTTON
Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy waves to the fans after his final game for the Crimson Tide at Saturday’s Capital One Bowl. McElroy was 13 of 17 for 220 yards and one touchdown.
For interviews with players and coach Nick Saban, go to www.tidesports.com
The big question for Alabama is, can it carry this momentum into the fall?
ORLANDO sin doing it. ow we know the answer to “what In some ways, the if...?” answer had to bring a What if Alabama had played little bit of frustration on all cylinders all season long? What to Alabama fans. After if the accumulation of massive weekly all, if the Crimson Tide pressure and various nagging injuries could start to play this had not taken a toll? What if, as Nick way on New Year’s Saban said on Saturday, just four or five Day, why couldn’t it CECIL plays in the course of the season had start on Labor Day. HURT been different. Why did it take four The answer was impressive. This was months for this footnot a BCS bowl game, but it is hard to ball team to play 60 imagine anyone else putting together minutes, start to finish? a more impressive performance than The answer is that it might have taken Alabama’s 49-7 crushing of a Michigan the experiences of 2010 — the struggle State team that won the Big Ten, and at South Carolina, the late-game loss at beat Rose Bowl representative WisconSEE HURT | 6C
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STAFF PHOTO | MICHELLE LEPIANKA CARTER
Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins (8) is sacked by Alabama linebacker Alex Watkins from behind during the second half of the Capital One Bowl in Orlando on Saturday. Watkins’ sack was one of five by the Crimson Tide and one of 11 tackles for a loss. Alabama held the Spartans to minus-48 rushing yards in the 49-7 victory.
GATOR BOWL | MISSISSIPPI STATE 52, MICHIGAN 14
Bulldogs hands Wolverines worst bowl loss By Mark Long The Associated Press
JACKSONVILLE, FLA. | Mississippi State displayed a program and a coach on the rise with an overwhelming performance in the Gator Bowl. For Michigan, it could have been the final blow for its beleaguered coach. Chris Relf accounted for four touchdowns, Vick Ballard ran for three scores and coach Dan Mullen’s 21stranked Bulldogs routed Rich Rodri-
ture. His three-year tenure has been tainted by consecutive losing seasons, NCAA sanctions and late-season ■ Gators hold off Penn State to win slides. Outback Bowl | 3C Rodriguez said all the speculation ■ TCU tops Wisconsin in Rose Bowl about his job was “the elephant in the to finish season undefeated | 3C ■ Late interception seals Texas Tech room” during meetings and practices, but insisted his team never “cheated win in TicketCity Bowl | 3C the University of Michigan a day of work.” guez’s Wolverines 52-14 on Saturday. But defensive tackle Mike Martin The 38-point drubbing was the worst said the uncertainty clearly affected bowl loss in Michigan’s storied history Rodriguez. and might have sealed Rodriguez’s fuSEE BULLDOGS | 3C
INSIDE
Mississippi State quarterback Chris Relf (36) outruns Michigan linebacker J.B. Fitzgerald in the second half of the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., Saturday. Relf changed numbers in honor of teammate Nick Bell, who died Nov. 2. Mississippi State won, 52-14. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS