A decade before winning three national championships at Alabama, Nick Saban was the coach at Michigan State and Mark Dantonio was one of his assistants.
Before winning bowl games the past four years, Dantonio's first really good season as the Spartans' coach ended with an embarrassing bowl loss to the Crimson Tide and the coach he calls a mentor.
The programs meet again in the Cotton Bowl on Thursday night, this time with a national championship game berth on the line. The SEC champion Tide play Big Ten winner Michigan State in a likely bruising College Football Playoff semifinal between 12-1 teams.