2015 Cotton Bowl Classic (December)

Chris Fowler (Play-by-Play)
Kirk Herbstreit (Analyst)
Heather Cox (Sideline)
Tom Rinaldi (Sideline)

ESPN Radio
Brad Sham (Play-by-Play)
Danny Kanell (Analyst)
Ian Fitzsimmons (Sideline)

Nielsen ratings

(18.5 Million viewers)

The 2015 Cotton Bowl Classic was a college football bowl game played on December 31, 2015 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The 80th Cotton Bowl Classic was a College Football Playoff semifinal with the winner of this game competing against Clemson, the winner of the 2015 Orange Bowl in the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship, which will take place at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. It was one of the 2015–16 bowl games that concluded the 2015 FBS football season. The game was broadcast on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio and XM Satellite Radio. It is sponsored by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and is officially known as the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

Teams

The Cotton Bowl will act as one of the two College Football Playoff semifinal games. The two teams selected for the game are the Alabama Crimson Tide and Michigan State Spartans. The Michigan State Spartans return to the Cotton Bowl after defeating Baylor on New Year's Day 2015; Michigan State becomes the 3rd 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.

Alabama

Main article: 2015 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

Michigan State

Main article: 2015 Michigan State Spartans football team

Game summary

Scoring summary

Quarter	Time	Drive			Team	Scoring information	Score
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring information	MICH ST	ALA
2	5:36	6	80	2:38	ALA	Derrick Henry 1-yard touchdown run, Adam Griffith kick good	0	7
2	1:25	7	43	2:39	ALA	47-yard field goal by Adam Griffith	0	10
3	10:36	9	75	4:24	ALA	Calvin Ridley 6-yard touchdown reception from Jake Coker, Adam Griffith kick good	0	17
3	3:24	-	-	-	ALA	Punt returned 57 yards for touchdown by Cyrus Jones, Adam Griffith kick good	0	24
3	2:20	1	50	0:09	ALA	Calvin Ridley 50-yard touchdown reception from Jake Coker, Adam Griffith kick good	0	31
4	7:52	3	69	0:09	ALA	Derrick Henry 11-yard touchdown run, Adam Griffith kick good	0	38
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.							0	38

Statistics

Statistics^[1]	MICH ST	ALA
First Downs	16	21
Total offense, plays - yards	65–239	66–440
Rushes-yards (net)	26–29	35–154
Passing yards (net)	210	286
Passes, Comp-Att-Int	19–39–2	25–31–0
Time of Possession	27:04	32:56

References

1 2 3 "2015 Cotton Bowl Classic: Michigan State vs. Alabama Stats". Stat Broadcast. Retrieved 2015-12-31.

External links

Official website

2015–16 NCAA football bowl game season

New Mexico (Dec. 19) Las Vegas (Dec. 19) Camellia (Dec. 19) Cure (Dec. 19) New Orleans (Dec. 19) Miami Beach (Dec. 21) Famous Idaho Potato (Dec. 22) Boca Raton (Dec. 22) Poinsettia (Dec. 23) GoDaddy (Dec. 23) Bahamas (Dec. 24) Hawaii (Dec. 24) St. Petersburg (Dec. 26) Sun (Dec. 26) Heart of Dallas (Dec. 26) Pinstripe (Dec. 26) Independence (Dec. 26) Foster Farms (Dec. 26) Military (Dec. 28) Quick Lane (Dec. 28) Armed Forces (Dec. 29) Russell Athletic (Dec. 29) Arizona (Dec. 29) Texas (Dec. 29) Birmingham (Dec. 30) Belk (Dec. 30) Music City (Dec. 30) Holiday (Dec. 30) Peach (Dec. 31) Outback (Jan. 1) Citrus (Jan. 1) Fiesta (Jan. 1) Rose (Jan. 1) Sugar (Jan. 1) TaxSlayer (Jan. 2) Liberty (Jan. 2) Alamo (Jan. 2) Cactus (Jan. 2)

College Football Playoff games: Orange (semifinal) (Dec. 31) Cotton (semifinal) (Dec. 31) National Championship Game (Jan. 11)

All-Star Games: 2016 East–West Shrine Game (Jan. 23) NFLPA Collegiate Bowl (Jan. 23) Senior Bowl (Jan. 30)

Cotton Bowl Classic

History & tie-ins	History Cotton Bowl AT&T Stadium College Football Playoff Broadcasters College Football Playoff At-Large Group of Five

Games	1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1966 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2015

Notes	There was a Cotton Bowl Classic in January and December in 1966 and 2015. There was no Cotton Bowl Classic in 1967. The game was a College Football Playoff semifinal in its December 2015 edition.

Alabama Crimson Tide bowl games

Pound sign (#) denotes national championship game.

Michigan State Spartans bowl games

College Football Playoff

Semifinal bowls (seasons)

Championship game

Overview	College Football Playoff National Championship

Games	2015 (AT&T Stadium) 2016 (University of Phoenix Stadium) 2017 (Raymond James Stadium) 2018 (Mercedes-Benz Stadium) 2019 (Levi's Stadium) 2020 (Mercedes-Benz Superdome)

Other

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