2015 Cotton Bowl Classic (December)

College Football Playoff Semifinal bowl game August 2023 December 2025 Cotton Bowl Classic College Football Playoff Semifinal80th Cotton Bowl Classic Goodyear 200px December 31 2015 2015 AT&T Stadium Arlington, Texas Michigan State University Michigan State Spartans 12−1 Big Ten 3 4 3 Mark Dantonio 0 0 0 0 University of Alabama Alabama Crimson Tide 12−1 SEC 2 2 2 Nick Saban 0 10 21 7 Alabama by 10 QB Jake Coker (Alabama)CB Cyrus Jones (Alabama) Mike Defee (Big XII) 82,812 ESPN Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Heather Cox, and Tom Rinaldi (18.5 million viewers) 2015 (Jan.) 2017 2 vs. 3 Seed CFP Semifinal Game 2015 Rose 2016 Fiesta thumb|AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, hosted the Cotton Bowl Classic. The 2015 Cotton Bowl Classic (officially known as the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the 2015 Cotton Bowl Classic for sponsorship reasons) was a college football bowl game played on December 31, 2015, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The game was the 80th edition of the Cotton Bowl Classic and the second semifinal of the 2015–16 College Football Playoff (CFP), part of the slate of bowl games that concluded the 2015 FBS football season. The game featured two of the four teams chosen by the CFP selection committee: the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the No. 3 Michigan State Spartans from the Big Ten Conference. The winner qualified for the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship against the winner of the other semifinal, hosted by the Orange Bowl. The game was broadcast on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio and XM Satellite Radio. Alabama shut out Michigan State 38–0 to advance to the National Championship Game, where they defeated Clemson to win the championship.https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2015/12/31/cotton-bowl-alabama-routs-michigan-state-college-football-playoff/78157612/ Alabama routs Michigan State to reach College Football Playoff final 2016-09-20 Teams The Cotton Bowl acted as one of the two College Football Playoff semifinal games. The two teams selected for the game were No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Michigan State.2015-12-06 Playoff bound: MSU ranked No. 3 to play Alabama in Cotton Bowl http://fox17online.com/2015/12/06/playoff-bound-msu-ranked-no-3-to-play-alabama-in-cotton-bowl/ 2016-09-20 FOX17Online Associated Press en-US Michigan State returned to the Cotton Bowl after defeating Baylor in a non-playoff version of the bowl game on January 1, 2015.https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2015/01/01/no-7-msu-shocks-no-4-baylor-42-41-in-cotton-bowl/21164201/ No. 7 Michigan State stuns No. 4 Baylor 42-41 in Cotton Bowl 2016-09-20http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/bowl_games_history_cotton.html Cotton Bowl History, Scores, Results www.collegefootballpoll.com 2016-09-20 Michigan State became just the third school in history to play in the same bowl twice in a calendar year, joining Auburn, which played in the Gator Bowl on January 1 and December 31, 1954, and Oklahoma, which played in the Sugar Bowl on January 1 and December 31, 1972. The game was a rematch of the 2011 Capital One Bowl, where Alabama defeated Michigan State 49–7.http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/12/cotton_bowl_by_the_numbers_ala.html Cotton Bowl by the numbers: Alabama, Michigan State meet in CFP semifinals 2016-09-20 Game summary After Oklahoma lost to Clemson 17–37 in the Orange Bowl Semifinal, Michigan State was throttled by Alabama 38–0.https://www.espn.com/college-football/recap?gameId=400852732 Michigan State vs. Alabama - Game Recap - December 31, 2015 - ESPN ESPN.com 2016-09-20 A tight first half saw Alabama take a 10–0 lead into half time. Near the end of the second quarter, Michigan State had its best drive of the night, but all-time winningest MSU quarterback, Connor Cook, was intercepted by Cyrus Jones. Alabama scored a touchdown on the opening possession of the second half and MSU turned the ball over on its first possession. Alabama could not capitalize on the turnover, but did return MSU's next punt for a touchdown, putting the game out of reach at 24–0 with a little over three minutes remaining in the third quarter. MSU's offense could not muster any points and were held to a total of 249 yards. Cook finished the night with zero touchdowns and two interceptions. Alabama went on to defeat Clemson 45–40 for the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship.https://www.espn.com/college-football/recap?gameId=400852743 Alabama vs. Clemson - Game Recap - January 11, 2016 - ESPN ESPN.com 2016-09-20 Scoring summary Michigan State Alabama 2 5:36 Alabama 6 80 2:38 RushTD Derrick Henry 1 Adam Griffith good 0 7 2 1:25 Alabama 7 43 2:39 FG 47 Adam Griffith good 0 10 3 10:36 Alabama 9 75 4:24 RecTD Calvin Ridley Jake Coker 6 Adam Griffith good 0 17 3 3:24 Alabama Other Cyrus Jones Punt returned 57 yards for touchdown by Cyrus Jones, Adam Griffith kick good 57 Adam Griffith good 0 24 3 2:20 Alabama 1 50 0:09 RecTD Calvin Ridley Jake Coker 50 Adam Griffith good 0 31 4 7:52 Alabama 3 69 0:09 RushTD Derrick Henry 11 Adam Griffith good 0 38 0 38 Statistics +Team statistical comparisonhttps://collegefootballplayoff.com/documents/2025/7/24/151231gamebook_cotton.pdf College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic - Official Game Summary December 31, 2015 College Football Playoff July 26, 2026StatisticMichigan StateAlabamaFirst downs 16 21First downs rushing 2 7First downs passing 11 12First downs penalty 3 2Third down efficiency 4–16 4–12Fourth down efficiency 1–3 1–1Total plays–net yards 65–239 66–440Rushing attempts–net yards 26–29 35–154Yards per rush 1.1 4.4Yards passing 210 286Pass completions–attempts 19–39 25–31Interceptions thrown 2 0Punt returns–total yards 3–16 5–80Kickoff returns–total yards 1–22 0–0Punts–average yardage 9–45.7 6–46.5Fumbles–lost 2–0 2–0Penalties–yards 6–33 6–69Time of possession 27:04 32:56 +Michigan State statisticsSpartans passingC–A Completions–AttemptsYds Passing yardsTD–INT Passing touchdowns–Interceptions thrown Connor Cook 19–39 210 0–2Spartans rushingCar CarriesYds Rushing yardsTD Rushing touchdowns Damion Terry 1 14 0 Madre London 5 11 0 LJ Scott 6 8 0 Aaron Burbridge 3 8 0 Gerald Holmes 2 6 0 Delton Williams 2 6 0 Connor Cook 7 −24 0Spartans receivingRec ReceptionsYds Receiving yardsTD Receiving touchdowns Aaron Burbridge 5 39 0 Josiah Price 4 39 0 Felton Davis 1 28 0 Macgarrett Kings 2 27 0 DeAnthony Arnett 1 21 0 R.J. Shelton 2 19 0 Paul Lang 1 17 0 Gerald Holmes 2 10 0 Madre London 1 10 0 +Alabama statisticsCrimson Tide passingC–A Completions–AttemptsYds Passing yardsTD–INT Passing touchdowns–Interceptions thrown Jake Coker 25–30 286 2–0 Cooper Bateman 0–1 0 0–0Crimson Tide rushingCar CarriesYds Rushing yardsTD Rushing touchdowns Derrick Henry 20 75 2 Kenyan Drake 4 60 0 Bo Scarbrough 3 17 0 ArDarius Stewart 1 7 0 Damien Harris 1 2 0 TEAM 1 −1 0 Jake Coker 5 −6 0Crimson Tide receivingRec ReceptionsYds Receiving yardsTD Receiving touchdowns Calvin Ridley 8 138 2 O. J. Howard 3 59 0 Richard Mullaney 3 53 0 ArDarius Stewart 7 37 0 Kenyan Drake 3 5 0 Derrick Henry 1 −6 0 References Category:2015–16 NCAA football bowl games Category:2015–16 College Football Playoff Category:Cotton Bowl Classic Category:Alabama Crimson Tide football bowl games Category:Michigan State Spartans football bowl games Cotton Bowl Classic Category:21st century in Arlington, Texas Category:December 2015 sports events in the United States