Tide rolls past MSU

Published 3:38 pm Sunday, January 2, 2011

Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins finished with just 120 yards passing and an interception against Alabama in the Capital One Bowl. (Daily Star Photo/File)

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Michigan State Spartans were no match for Alabama Saturday afternoon in the Capital One Bowl.

The Crimson Tide rolled to a 49-7 victory over the Spartans, led by Michigan product Mark Ingram, who rushed for 59 yards and touchdown.

Alabama’s Greg McElroy threw for 220 yards and a score.

Here are some notes from Saturday’s game:

• Michigan State closes the season with an 11-2 record…the 11 wins are the most in school history.

• With the 49-7 loss to Alabama, Michigan State now falls to 7-14 all-time in bowl games…the Spartans are 4-5 on New Year’s Day bowl games, including a 1-2 record in the Capital One Bowl (defeated No. 10 Florida, 37-34, in 2000; lost to No. 16 Georgia, 24-12, in 2009)…MSU has lost its last five bowl games; the last win in a bowl game came in 2001 against Fresno State in the Silicon Valley Football Classic…seven of Michigan State’s last eight bowl opponents have been ranked in The Associated Press Top 25.

• The Spartans were held to -48 yards rushing, which is the lowest rushing total for an MSU team in program history…the previous low was -5 yards against Purdue in 1979…Michigan State was also limited to a season-low 171 yards of total offense.

• Michigan State allowed a season-high 546 yards of total offense to Alabama, the most since giving up 579 yards against Texas Tech in the 2010 Alamo Bowl.

• In his final game as a Spartan, All-America linebacker Greg Jones compiled eight tackles, including two for losses (2 yards)…Jones ends his career with 46.5 tackles for loss, which is second in school history, and 465 tackles, which is third in school history…Jones finishes his senior year with a team-best 106 tackles; he becomes only the second player in school history (Dan Bass, 1976-79) to lead the team in tackles for four consecutive seasons…he also becomes the first Spartan player to reach the 100-tackle milestone in three straight seasons since Percy Snow (1987-89).

• Eric Gordon finished his career starting 49 games, which is the most of any player in school history…he closed his career with 331 tackles, which rank 12th in the Spartan record books, after making four stops against Alabama.

• Kirk Cousins was 10-of-18 passing for 120 yards and one interception…Cousins now ranks fourth in school history with 5,815 passing yards…he finished the season ranked among MSU’s Top 10 season leaders in completion percentage (second at .669), pass completions (third with 226), passing yards (third with 2,825 yards) and touchdown passes (tied for fourth with 20).

• Mark Dell caught two passes for 27 yards…he finishes his career ranked sixth in school history in receiving yards (2,136), seventh in pass receptions (133) and tied for 13th in touchdown receptions (12).

• Red-shirt freshman wide receiver Bennie Fowler recorded a career-high 161 all-purpose yards (105 kick return, 56 receiving)…he also registered his first career TD reception on a 49-yard pass from Keith Nichol in the fourth quarter…the 49-yard TD pass was the seventh-longest TD reception in bowl history.

• Blake Treadwell recorded a career-high six tackles, including a half tackle for loss.