A decade before winning three national championships at Alabama, Nick Saban was the coach at Michigan State.
Before winning bowl games the past four seasons, coach Mark Dantonio's first really good season at Michigan State ended with an embarrassing bowl loss to the Crimson Tide.
The programs meet again on New Year's Eve, this time with a national championship game berth on the line. SEC winner Alabama plays the Big Ten champion Spartans in what will likely be a bruising College Football Playoff semifinal between two 12-1 teams at the Cotton Bowl.
"We know what kind of physical, tough teams they have at Michigan State, and it will be a real challenge for our team," Saban said Sunday.
Along with playing his former team, Saban and the Crimson Tide get another shot at the Big Ten. Alabama is the only team that also played in the first four-team playoff last season, but lost 42-35 to eventual national champion Ohio State from the Big Ten in the Sugar Bowl.
Saban was 34-21-1 in five seasons at Michigan State (1995-99) before going to LSU, then the NFL and to Alabama in 2007. The Spartans lost in the Independence, Sun and Aloha bowls in Saban's first three seasons, but did win the Citrus Bowl over Florida his final season -- after he had already left to start his job at LSU.
In the only previous meeting between Michigan State and Alabama, the Crimson Tide won 49-7 in the Capital One Bowl in 2011 after the co-Big Ten champion Spartans lost out on a tiebreaker and didn't get to go to the Rose Bowl.
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Michigan State has won its last four bowl games since, including last New Year's Day in its first Cotton Bowl. The Spartans overcame a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter for a 42-41 win over Baylor.
This one promises to be a black-and-blue game between two of the most physical teams in college football.
Alabama got 189 yards from Derrick Henry on a staggering 44 carries against Florida's stingy defense Saturday to win the SEC title game 29-15. Jake Coker threw for 2014 yards and a pair of touchdowns in Alabama's 10th consecutive victory. Michigan State won the Big Ten championship 16-13 over Iowa, with freshman L.J. Scott lunging forward for a 1-yard TD in the final minute that capped an epic 22-play drive.
Some things to know when Alabama and Michigan State return to AT&T Stadium, the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and the Cotton Bowl since the 2009 season:
RUNNING WILD: Henry's 1,986 yards broke Herschel Walker's SEC single-season mark set in 1981, and his 23 rushing TDs tied the SEC mark shared by Tim Tebow and Auburn's Tre Mason. In the season opener in Arlington, Henry ran for 147 yards and three TDs against Wisconsin. Scott is Michigan State's leading rusher with 691 yards and 11 touchdowns. The Spartans' top three rushers -- Scott, Gerald Holmes and Madre London -- have a combined 1,614 yards and 22 TDs.
FAMILIAR SETTING: Both Michigan State and Alabama have already played in AT&T Stadium this year. The Spartans won the Cotton Bowl, the only one for a Big Ten other than Ohio State's over Texas A&M in 1987. Alabama opened this season with a 35-17 victory over the Badgers. The Tide also opened the 2012 season, their last championship game, in the Labor Day weekend opener at the NFL stadium.
SMART FINALE: Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart is expected to remain with the Crimson Tide throughout the College Football Playoff after being named coach of Georgia, his alma mater. Smart headed straight to Athens after the SEC championship game in Atlanta on Saturday night for a final interview before being named Mark Richt's successor Sunday.
COTTON COMEBACK: Michigan State's comeback in the Cotton Bowl last January was the school's biggest ever in a postseason game. It was the second-largest Cotton Bowl comeback -- Notre Dame trailed by 22 points with 7:37 left before beating Houston 35-34 in 1979. The Spartans' four-game bowl winning streak matches the longest in Big Ten history, and is the longest active streak in the FBS.
SABAN SUCCESS: Alabama has won 25 SEC titles, including four under Saban. Alabama won six games against AP Top 25 teams this season, the most by anyone.
