Capital One Bowl: No. 16 Alabama Crimson Tide (9-3) vs. No. 9 Michigan State Spartans (11-1)
Date: Saturday, January 1st, 2011
Location: Orlando, Florida
Time: 1:00 p.m. EST
If you are excited about the Outback Bowl, get ready for the Capital One Bowl kicking off at the same time between Alabama and Michigan State. It’s possibly the biggest non-BCS bowl of the year and it takes place on New Year’s Day. Defending national champions Alabama lost at South Carolina and LSU, and took a home loss to Auburn this season. It forced them to finish fourth in the Southeastern Conference West Division. They have all the pieces with junior receiver Julio Jones, senior quarterback Greg McElroy and junior running back Mark Ingram (last year’s Heisman winner), but it didn’t come together this year. Jones caught 75 passes for more than 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns.
Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio knows Alabama coach Nick Saban very well. He was Saban’s assistant at Michigan State from 1995-1999. Dantonio will hope to turn it around this year after losing his last four bowl games. The Spartans are led by sophomore running back Edwin Baker, who was third in the Big Ten with 1,187 rushing yards. Michigan State earned a share of the Big Ten title for its first championship in 20 seasons. The last loss for the Spartans came on Oct. 30 against Iowa.
My Pick: Though Michigan State had a stellar year, it hasn’t faced competition like Alabama. I’m taking Alabama to win 31-21 with my sports bet.
Money Line (odds provided by Ladbrokes)
Alabama: 1/4
Michigan State: 3/1
Point Spread: Alabama -10
Over/Under: 52