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Arlington, TX (SportsNetwork. Athletics Jerseys China .com) - A glass half-full Baylor fan sees the Bears appearance in a New Years Day bowl game as an accomplishment. One with a half-empty mindset views it as a slight of the highest order. Regardless of their opinion, they will be tuning in to the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1 to watch the fourth-ranked Bears take on the seventh-ranked Michigan State Spartans at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. While Baylor is ranked No. 4 in the AP poll, the College Football Playoff committee saw it appropriate to rank Ohio State in the final spot in the CFP rankings, with the 11-1 Bears falling in at No. 5. Since the Big 12 does not have a championship game, the conference opted to name co-champs at the end of the regular season, with both Baylor and TCU each sharing the crown even though the former beat the latter. The only blemish on Baylors record came in a 41-27 loss at West Virginia on Oct. 18, a game that saw the Bears commit 18 penalties for 215 yards -- the most ever by a Big 12 team. They recovered to win their final five games, including a 38-27 win over nationally-ranked Kansas State in the finale. Still, it was not enough, and Baylors head coach took the high road rather than complain about the process. I certainly would have liked to be in (the final four), but it didnt work out that way so what am I going to do? You know, moan and wine, Art Briles lamented, Its a decision that was made that we have no control over, so we will live with it, its what we do. We are fighters, competitors, we will live to fight another day. Its what we are doing. Bryce Petty was one of those fighters and was a finalist for all of the major quarterback awards after guiding the No. 1 offense in the country, one that averaged 58.8 points and 581.3 yards per game. The senior ranked eighth in the country with 300.5 passing ypc and produced a sensational 26-to-6 touchdown- to-interception-ratio. Corey Coleman was Pettys No. 1 target and finished with 57 catches for 969 and 10 touchdowns in nine games. Antwan Goodley, K.D. Cannon and Jay Lee all had six TD receptions, while Shock Linwood ran for 102.2 ypc and 16 scores as a sophomore. The offense justifiably gets most of the headlines, but the Bears defense ranked first in the Big 12 against the run, allowing 107.7 ypg. That usually stems from teams needing to throw after falling in an early hole, and Baylor has been able to force 24 turnovers as a result. Bryce Hager led the way with 101 tackles, Orion Stewart intercepted four passes and Shawn Oakman had one of the best seasons in school history on the defensive line. Oakman needs one sack and two tackles for loss to set the BU record in both categories. He has posted 10 sacks and 18 TFLs so far. A win Thursday would give the Bears a school-record 12 victories and improve their postseason record to 11-10. They lost in the Cotton Bowl in 1975 and 81 to Penn State and Alabama, respectively. Michigan State was also predicted to be in the title hunt, what with finishing the 2013 season with only one loss and a Rose Bowl win over Stanford. The Spartans though, dropped an early-season test at Oregon and later lost at home to Ohio State, which all but sealed their fate outside the CFP. MSU won three straight after the OSU loss to finish the season at a respectable 10-2, including a 7-1 mark in Big Ten play. Since the two setbacks were both to teams playing in the CFP, Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio figures his team is ready for another stiff test. Baylor would have, could have been in the top four in the country. Weve already played two of those top-four teams, so why not play another one, Dantonio said. When you go to a bowl game, youre always trying to move forward. You want to play the best team you can. Known for its hard-nosed defense coming into the season, the Spartans offense rose to the occasion nearly every week and set school single-season records for points (517), total offense (5,958 yards), offensive touchdowns (64), rushing touchdowns (40) and made point-after attempts (66). Jeremy Langford carried the load out of the backfield, rushing for 1,360 yards and school-record nine consecutive 100-yard games and counting. The senior accounted for 19 of a team-record 40 touchdowns on the ground. Connor Cook was no slouch under center, with the junior QB leading the Big Ten in passing (241.7 ypc) and ranking 14th in the FBS in passing efficiency (152.4). Half of his 22 touchdown passes went to wide receiver Tony Lippet, who totaled 60 receptions for 1,124 yards in his senior campaign. The defense took a slight step back this season but still ranked seventh in the FBS in total defense (293.5 ypg) and sixth in rushing defense (97.5 ypg). The opportunistic bunch forced 33 turnovers, which led to an FBS-best plus-20 turnover margin. Kurtis Drummond made second-team All American after leading the Spartans in tackles (65), interceptions (4) and pass breakups (11). Trae Wayne recorded three interceptions, while Shilique Calhoun anchored a line with 11 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. MSU has never appeared in the Cotton Bowl and is just 10-14 all-time in the postseason, though the Spartans have won their last three bowl games. They also hold an impressive 19-2-1 record against teams currently in the Big 12 and won their only previous matchup against Baylor way back in 1968. The Cotton Bowl was first played in 1937, and this is the first top-10 battle it has seen since 1994 when No. 4 Notre Dame beat No. 7 Texas A&M. Oakland Athletics Gear .Y. - Brooklyn Nets centre Brook Lopez has a strained lower back and will miss at least a week. Wholesale Athletics Jerseys . Kelli Stack and Alex Carpenter also scored for the Americans, who avoided a repeat of Finlands upset at the Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., in November. Finnish goalie Noora Raty made 58 saves in that one, but the three-time Olympian could stop just 40 of 43 U. https://www.cheapathleticsonline.com/ . The Raptors (15-15) posted six road victories last month and have won seven of their last nine games overall. Toronto visits the Washington Wizards on Friday night.The Montreal Canadiens, behind a 35-save performance from Dustin Tokarski, squeezed out a 3-2 overtime win over the New York Rangers in Game Three, cutting the Rangers lead in the series to two games to one. Tokarski, a somewhat controversial choice -- with his 10 games of NHL experience and all -- to replace an injured Carey Price in Game Two had a night to remember, turning back a Rangers team that was dominating play from the get-go, outshooting the Canadiens 14-4 in the first period and 37-25 overall. The Rangers had 58.2% of the shot attempts during 5-on-5 play. The winning goal, at 1:12 of overtime, came on a rebound that was kicked out by Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist and hit Canadiens LW Alex Galchenyuk in the neck, bouncing back into the Rangers net. It was Galchenyuks only shot attempt of the game in his second game of this years playoffs. The games last three goals all came on unusual bounces. The Canadiens took a 2-1 lead with 3:02 remaining when Daniel Brieres attempt to stuff a rebound off the end boards was knocked in by a sliding Ryan McDonagh. Then, with the Rangers goaltender pulled in the final minute, Dan Girardi sent a puck towards the net, it deflected off Rangers LW Chris Kreider, then off the heel of Canadiens D Alexei Emelin, earning a tie with 29 seconds left in regulation. Galchenyuk wasnt the only Canadiens player to score his first of the postseason in Game Three. Veteran D Andrei Markov scored Montreals first goal. The Rangers first goal was knocked in by Carl Hagelin, his fifth of the playoffs, tying him with Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards for the Rangers team lead. St. Louis had a game-high 11 shot attempts in Game Three, including a couple of Grade A chances, including a onne-time shot on a 2-1, which immediately preceded Hagelins goal, and was stopped by Canadiens D Josh Gorges. Cheap Athletics Jerseys. . Rangers D Kevin Klein doesnt get the tough matchups, but he had success in his role in Game Three, on the ice for 24 shot attempts for and six against (80.0%) during 5-on-5 play. The Rangers had 50.0% of the even-strength shots when Klein was off the ice. Klein and partner John Moore started every one of their shifts in the offensive or neutral zone. Canadiens C Lars Eller was the opposite to Klein, on for 23.1% of the shot attempts at 5-on-5 and Eller didnt attempt a shot the entire game, in 15:02 of ice time. Montreals win makes for a much more interesting series, to be sure. Game Three brought out some hostility that hadnt appeared earlier in the series. Canadiens LW Brandon Prust laid out Rangers C Derek Stepan (who returned to the game) with a late hit and later fought Derek Dorsett, but it wasnt just Prust. There were more extra pokes and physical confrontations throughout the game. Canadiens RW Brendan Gallagher and Rangers D Ryan McDonagh waged quite a battle throughout the game. While hostility between the clubs can make for a more interesting series, the fact that the series is 2-1 in favour of the Rangers, rather than 3-0, is reason enough to believe that the Canadiens have a chance to make something out of this situation. They probably cant count on having Tokarski get the better of Lundqvist in the goaltending matchup too often, but that got the Canadiens through Game Three and thats enough to keep their hope alive. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. 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