MSU Must Beat Former Coach to Win College Football National Championship

The Spartans face Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide in Playoffs.

The College Football Playoff selection committee has chosen the four teams who will compete for the sport’s national championship. Big Ten Conference champion Michigan State will play Southeastern Conference winner Alabama in the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas on New Year’s Eve. Top-ranked Clemson, which won the Atlantic Coast Conferencewill face Big 12 champ Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl in Miami. The winners will meet January 11, 2016 in Glendale, Arizona. WDET Detroit Today producer and sports journalist Art Regner tells Pat Batcheller the Spartans know the Crimson Tide’s head coach very well. It’s Nick Saban, who coached at MSU from 1995 to 1999. Click on the audio player to hear the conversation.

WHO: No. 3 Michigan State (12-1) vs. No. 2 Alabama (12-1).

WHAT: Cotton Bowl (College Football Playoff semifinal game). Winner will play Clemson or Oklahoma for the national championship.

WHEN: December 31, 2015 at 8:00 pm.

WHERE: Arlington, Texas.

OTHER BOWL GAMES

CITRUS BOWL: Michigan (9-3) vs. Florida (10-3) on January 1, 2016 in Orlando, Florida.

QUICK LANE BOWL: Central Michigan (7-5) vs. Minnesota (5-7) on December 28, 2015 at Ford Field in Detroit.

BAHAMAS BOWL: Western Michigan (7-5) vs. Middle Tennessee State (7-5) on December 24, 2015 in Nassau, Bahamas.

Author

  • Pat Batcheller
    Pat Batcheller is a host and Senior News Editor for 101.9 WDET, presenting local news, traffic and weather updates during Morning Edition. He is an amateur musician.