2011 Capital One Bowl The 2011 Capital One Bowl was the sixty - fifth edition of the college football bowl game , and was played at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando , Florida . The game was played on January 1 , 2011 and matched the Alabama Crimson Tide from the Southeastern Conference ( SEC ) with the Michigan State Spartans from the Big Ten Conference . Televised by ESPN , Alabama won by a final score of 49 – 7 . Teams . Alabama . The defending National Champions Alabama Crimson Tide entered the game with a 9 – 3 record . The Tide were led by All - American wide receiver Julio Jones who set school records in catches with 75 and yards with 1 , 084 this season . 2009 Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram had been held to less than 100 yards rushing for eight straight games . Alabama ' s strength had been in their defense which led the SEC giving up 14 . 1 points and 296 . 0 yards per game as well as forcing 21 interceptions . Alabama made its second appearance in the Bowl Game . They defeated Ohio State 24 – 17 in the 1995 game when it was known as the CompUSA Florida Citrus Bowl . Michigan State . Michigan State was one of the surprises of the 2010 season and narrowly missed out on a BCS Bowl berth . The 11 – 1 Spartans won a share of the Big Ten Championship for the first time in 20 years . Although they finished 9th in the final BCS standings they would not be allowed to be selected to a BCS Bowl due to a rule that three teams from the same conference cannot all appear in BCS Bowl games . State was led by tailback Edwin Baker , who ranked third in the Big Ten with 1 , 187 yards rushing . The Spartans played without leading wide receiver B . J . Cunningham , who broke his foot in practice prior to the bowl . Michigan State made its third appearance in the game , having defeated Florida in 2000 and losing to Georgia in 2009 . Game summary . Alabama scored touchdowns on their first four offensive possessions . Mark Ingram scored first on a one - yard touchdown run to cap a 13 - play , 79 - yard drive on Alabama ' s first possession . After a Robert Lester interception of a Kirk Cousins pass on the Spartans ' opening drive , the Tide scored on the ensuing possession on an eight - yard Trent Richardson touchdown run early in the second quarter . Alabama extended their lead to 28 – 0 at the half following touchdown runs of six and 35 yards by Ingram and Julio Jones . After holding Michigan State to a three - and - out to open the third quarter , Alabama scored its fifth touchdown in six offensive possessions after Marquis Maze scored on a 37 - yard reception from Greg McElroy . Up by 35 points late in the third , the Tide pulled many of their starters that resulted in many players seeing action from deep in the depth chart . Third - string back Eddie Lacy extended the lead to 49 – 0 with touchdown runs of twelve yards in the third and 62 yards in the fourth quarter . The Spartans scored their only points late in the fourth on a 49 - yard Bennie Fowler touchdown reception from Keith Nichol to bring the final score to 49 – 7 . For his performance which included two sacks , a tackle for loss and a forced fumble , Alabama linebacker Courtney Upshaw was named the game ' s Most Valuable Player . Game notes . This was the first ever meeting between the two schools . Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio was an assistant coach for Alabama head coach Nick Saban when Saban coached at State from 1995 - 1999 . Somewhat ignominiously , Michigan State was forced into the unusual circumstance of punting on 4th and goal in the second quarter due to a disastrous fumble .