Cotton Bowl Early Preview – Top QBs Meet as (5) Baylor Faces (8) Michigan State

Cotton Bowl: AT&T Stadium, Arlington (Jan. 1, 12:30 p.m. Eastern)

(8) Michigan State Spartans vs. (5) Baylor Bears (-3, 71.5 o/u)

After winning the Big Ten last season, the No. 8 Michigan State Spartans (10-2) failed to repeat. Nevertheless, head coach Mark Dantonio said he’s looking forward to his squad’s upcoming Cotton Bowl matchup against the No. 5 Baylor Bears (11-1) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

In his mind, even though both teams failed to qualify for the four-team College Football Playoff, this game means more than just any other bowl game.

“In my opinion, you want to play the best team you can,” Dantonio said. “That’s not a knock on Georgia Tech, but Baylor could have been a top four team in the country.

“We’ve already played two of those [playoff] teams [Oregon and Ohio State] so why not play another one? I’m not complaining about playing in the Cotton Bowl, that’s for sure.’”

Naturally, Baylor coach Art Briles is upset at finishing fifth in the rankings (one spot out of the College Football Playoffs) and at the Big 12 not being represented in the new postseason format.

“My opinion, since people are asking, I think the committee needs to be a little more regionalized with people that are associated with the south part of the United States,” Briles said. “I’ll say that. I’m not sure if there’s a connection on there that is that familiar with the Big 12 Conference. To me, that’s an issue.”

As for facing Michigan State, Briles believes a win will put a nice stamp on his team’s excellent season.

“I think they have a huge name, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that,” Briles said. “You don’t win the Big Ten and not have great respect throughout this nation.”

On paper, the Michigan State-Baylor matchup looks like it’ll be a high-scoring affair. Both teams have high-scoring offenses, but defenses that have struggled to keep other top teams off the scoreboard.

Take, for instance, Michigan State’s game against Ohio State, when they were torched for seven touchdowns during a 49-37 loss (in a game that smashed the 58.5 total); or Baylor’s game against TCU, when they needed 20 unanswered points late in the fourth to down TCU, 61-58.

The Spartans’ potent offense is led by quarterback Connor Cook, running back Jeremy Langford, and stud receiver Tony Lippett. The Bears counter with quarterback – and Heisman-snub – Bryce Petty, who passed for 3,305 yards and 26 TDs this season.

With Cook and Petty firing darts all over the field, this Cotton Bowl won’t be short on offense, which is why the over (71.5) is the play.

(Photo credit: John Martinez Pavliga (flickr) “IMG_8826″ [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)