{"id":31231,"date":"2010-12-28T16:27:08","date_gmt":"2010-12-29T00:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=31231"},"modified":"2010-12-28T23:04:12","modified_gmt":"2010-12-29T07:04:12","slug":"odds-capital-one-bowl-free-pick-281210","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/ncaa-football\/odds-capital-one-bowl-free-pick-281210\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 Capital One Bowl: Crimson Tide vs. Spartans Predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Capital One Bowl: #16 Alabama vs. #9 Michigan State Preview<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Welcome to the CappersPicks.com college football weekly predictions pages! We KNOW you will find our FREE weekly college football picks<\/a>, tips, betting advice, strategies, CFB gambling articles and more to help you become the best College football bettor on your block!!<\/p>\n

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Crimson Tide vs. Spartans Handicapping Matchup<\/h3>\n

Date\/Time: <\/strong>Saturday, Jan. 1 2011, 1 pm EST
\nVenue: <\/strong>Florida Citrus Bowl, Orlando FL
\nAlabama Crimson Tide (9-3) vs. Michigan State Spartans (11-1) Betting Lines from MySportsbook.com<\/strong>
\nMoneyLine: <\/strong>Alabama -370, Michigan State +305
\nNCAA Betting Favorite: <\/strong>Alabama (-10) Michigan State (+10)
\nOver\/Under: <\/strong>52
\nGO INSIDE THIS MATCHUP WITH OUR ATS STATS —><\/strong><\/a>
\n Bet now @ MySportsbook.com –><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Alabama<\/strong><\/p>\n

Considering how quickly head coach Nick Saban restored the Tide to national prominence, it has been a disappointing season in Tuscaloosa. Three losses; the Tide\u2019s season-ending 28-27 loss to loathed in-state rival Auburn \u2013 after leading in commanding fashion at half \u2013 particularly stung. Hence, it looks like the pre-conditions are in place for this talented squad to stomp all over a Big Ten competitor that \u201cgot lucky.\u201d The Spartans camp surely doesn\u2019t view it that way, but it will likely be the pervading opinion in college ball unless MSU can prove otherwise.<\/p>\n

Alabama has remarkable talent virtually all over the field, even after heavy losses to the NFL Draft. Top wide receiver Julio Jones is coming off a huge game against Auburn and don\u2019t overlook supplementary threat, junior Marquis Maze, who can hit you with a big play. Tide pivot Greg McElroy is battle-tested and savvy, everyone knows about \u2019Bama\u2019s duo of NFL first-round talent at tailback (Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson) and the defense has size, speed and aggression. <\/p>\n

Still, the Crimson Tide have three losses this season, and have looked hapless at times. It\u2019s not enough to field a great team if they don\u2019t show up consistently. Surely the Spartans are banking on this 2010 trend and will aim to exploit some facet of a talented SEC outfit. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Michigan State<\/strong><\/p>\n

As deflating a campaign as it has been for Alabama, it\u2019s been fantastic for the boys from East Lansing. The Spartans have done enough of everything you need to be successful. State has only one loss on the ledger in 2010, but its two main tests this season, against Wisconsin and Iowa, were a mixed bag. MSU beat the Badgers (who are definitely one of the top teams in the nation) by 10 points, but then got wiped 37-6 by Iowa on Oct. 30.<\/p>\n

The Iowa loss made the Spartans look a little vulnerable, but they\u2019ve rebounded well and closed out the schedule with victories. Michigan State\u2019s ground game has looked downright Alabama-like this season, thanks to Edwin Baker (1,187 yards, 13 TDs) and freshman Le\u2019Veon Bell (592 yards, 8 scores). Spartans\u2019 pivot Kirk Cousins has shown the kind of grace under fire that McElroy made his calling card in 2009, and even the defense has been Tide-esque; \u2019Bama ranks in the top 10 in FBS, but State sits at a respectable 26th<\/sup>(giving up only 20 points per).<\/p>\n

The knock on State, of course, is that they\u2019ve had a fairly powder-puff schedule (Michigan and Penn State both had ho-hum seasons) while Alabama deals with an SEC gauntlet. Big Ten purists everywhere will be cheering for MSU in this match-up precisely to silence the raving SEC fans. The reality is that Michigan State had a wonderful season, but racking up yards on Alabama is a lot different than tearing up Purdue or Minnesota. Maybe the Spartans can continue to ride the golden horseshoe, but the likelihood is they will learn this lesson the hard way on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

The Pick<\/strong><\/p>\n

If Michigan State can have as much success with its ground game in the bowl, this could turn out to be a classic. The smart money is on Alabama\u2019s \u201cD\u201d being water-tight. This is the best Michigan State team in a long time, no doubt, but the gulf in talent between the two programs is still noticeable. I would take the under in this one, but Alabama certainly has the horses to pull away.<\/p>\n

Alabama vs. Michigan State Score Prediction: <\/strong>Alabama 28 Michigan State 17
\n <\/strong>
\nJames has been naming every player on the EA Sports NCAA video game rosters for half a decade now, he\u2019s finally putting his knowledge to better use writing for us here at CappersPicks.com. As always you\u2019re comments are welcome below\u2026Give Us Your Take!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Michigan St. Spartans will both be trying to pick up a win in the 2011 Capital One Bowl when they battle at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando FL. Odds have the Tide listed as 10-point favorites the game’s total is 52…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":31372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[28750,41846,41806,41807,41808,164,181,20891,21838,7874,7875,287,41804,41805,470,763,17002,20925],"class_list":["post-31231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaa-football","tag-28750","tag-2011-capital-one-bowl","tag-alabama-crimson-tide-vs-michigan-st-spartans","tag-alabama-vs-michigan-st","tag-alabama-vs-michigan-st-bowl-preview","tag-betting-lines","tag-betting-trends","tag-bowl-game-predictions","tag-capital-one-bowl-free-pick","tag-capital-one-bowl-odds","tag-capital-one-bowl-preview","tag-cfb-picks","tag-crimson-tide-vs-spartans-handicapping","tag-crimson-tide-vs-spartans-predictions","tag-free-pick","tag-ncaa-football-betting","tag-ncaaf-bet","tag-ncaaf-spreads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31231"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31394,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31231\/revisions\/31394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}