Alabama’s Nick Saban has been to the mountain top – multiple times.
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It’s the first time the Spartans have been No. 1 since a three-week stint early in the 2013-14 season.
Did you know? Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio was an assistant for the Spartans under current Alabama coach Nick Saban. His defensive backs coach was Dantonio.
That’s precisely what Ohio State did in last season’s semis, of course, by a stunning 42-35 result that left Saban’s head spinning. Last year, the University of CT priced $220 million of debt as its teams advanced to the Final Four of the men’s and women’s national college basketball tournaments. So – and that’s the kind of football that a lot of people enjoy watching. “He’s truly a mentor of mine”.
Michigan State’s Montae Nicholson (9) and Shane Jones (49) celebrate after Michigan State defeated Iowa 16-13 to win the Big Ten championship NCAA college football game Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015, in Indianapolis.
Saban was pulling for his former protege.
“I think we’ve earned the right so far to be considered one of the top teams because of the schedule we’ve played”, Izzo said. The game will be contested at 8 p.m. ET on December 31 in Arlington, Texas.
“How quickly he learned was probably the most impressive part of him”, he said.
The Spartans and Crimson Tide are physical running teams.
“Oklahoma State is an outstanding team, and we have a great challenge in front of us, but I know Rebel Nation will come in force and provide us tremendous support as they have in every bowl game”, Freeze commented.
Schilling update: Michigan State continues to take it slow with the rehabilitation of Gavin Schilling, and Izzo said on Monday that the forward is still 7-10 days away from returning to action. They wrapped up their season and the Big 12 title last week and got to watch the rest of the playoff pieces fall into place like the rest of us on Saturday. The Gators played in East Lansing the following season for a non-conference game, but haven’t been in the building since. He will need his arm strength back if the Spartans expect to knock off Alabama. Niang’s first double-double of the season was crucial for the Cyclones, who let the Bulls get within 47-46 early in the second half.
Out of all the marquee games from championship week, Michigan State-Iowa most lived up to the hype.
It was the team’s longest completion of the season. Conference championship games are factored in. The Hawkeyes simply couldn’t block the fifth-year senior, and he will be a big focus for the Crimson Tide. As the season goes on, weekly ratings of the top four teams are released to the public. We refused to succumb to what everyone wanted to say, just stayed positive and keep working and we were able to do that. The senior had a huge third-down grab in the fourth quarter and had several big runs out of the Wildcat formation. Michigan State is one of the best teams in the country in both of the two most popular college sports.
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So why am I making everything Alabama-centric, Alabama-focused and Alabama-arranged? If your conference holds a championship game, you better be in it to have any hope of reaching the four-team playoff. “If we’ve got to go 30, we’re going to go 30”. They would have several teams in the top ten and losses looked even better when you had so many solid teams ranked so highly and after winning 7 consecutive titles in the BCS era the formula they had worked. “We’re sort of new on the scene in that type of thing”. Jackson’s official list is down to Michigan State, Arizona, Kansas, UNLV and UCLA and the only school he has an official visit set up to is Arizona which would seem to bode well for Sean Miller and the Wildcats.
