Who has the "home field" advantage - Alabama or Michigan State?

The scene before Alabama played Wisconsin in the 2015 AdvoCare Classic at AT&T Stadium back on Sept. 5. Photo by Keith Whitmire/CBAA

   Alabama opened the season at AT&T Stadium with a 35-17 win over Wisconsin. Normally that would give the Crimson Tide a decided advantage in familiarity in one of the world's most unique sports venues.
   However, it was just a year ago that Michigan State played - and won - in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. So the Spartans should be comfortable playing under the giant video screen in the Dallas Cowboys' palace.
   "The fact that we played here before, I think, always makes, you know, players feel a little bit more comfortable, you know, in terms of what they need to do in a game to play," Alabama coach Nick Saban said Saturday.
   "But there's going to be so many other things that contribute to, you know, the outcome of this game in terms of what players do play in and play out, down in and down out. I think it would be very difficult to make some assessment of whether this big screen or the fact that we played here before would have any effect on the outcome of the game."
   Alabama has the advantage of experience playing in the College Football Playoff last season, but as Saban pointed out, Michigan State has lots of experience in big games.
   I don't really think that Ohio State would have thought that Michigan State coming to play at Ohio State with a backup quarterback, that they would not be able to win the game. But they didn't," Saban said.
   "So all that really doesn't matter. It really matters how you play, the plays that you make in a game, how you execute, the discipline that you play with, the toughness you play with, how you finish the game. So those are the things that we're sort of most focused on."