Alabama head coach Nick Saban and players celebrate after winning the Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game 42-13 against Missouri on Saturday in Atlanta.
Alabama quarterback Blake Sims runs out of the pocket against Missouri during the first half of the Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game Saturday in Atlanta.Two college football coaches with a combined six national championships will vie in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's night when Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide take on Urban Meyer's Ohio State Buckeyes.
Meyer guided the Florida Gators to national titles in 2006 and '08, with his '08 team rallying past Saban's Tide 31-20 in the Southeastern Conference championship game. The Gators were No. 1 entering the 2009 SEC title game but were throttled 32-13 by Alabama, which was on its way to the first of three national crowns in a four-year stretch.
"I can't remember my address or phone number, but I could tell you probably every play in those games," Meyer said Sunday afternoon. "The 2008 game was one of the great games in college football history where two evenly matched teams were going back and forth, and that was one of the best teams I've ever coached against in that second year. Alabama handled us pretty good with [Mark] Ingram at tailback, and they just dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides."
Alabama (12-1) and Ohio State (12-1) will comprise one semifinal in the sport's inaugural four-team playoff. The first semifinal will take place New Year's afternoon when Oregon (12-1) and Florida State (13-0) collide in the Rose Bowl, with that pairing containing Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota, the expected winner of this season's Heisman Trophy, and Seminoles counterpart Jameis Winston, last year's Heisman winner.
Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston throws in his team's game against Boston College in Tallahassee in November. Florida State defeated Boston College 20-17.The College Football Playoff selection committee revealed its final rankings early Sunday afternoon, with Alabama No. 1, Oregon No. 2, Florida State No. 3 and Ohio State No. 4. Baylor (11-1) and TCU (11-1) were co-champions of the Big 12 Conference and were ranked No. 5 and No. 6, respectively, with TCU plummeting from No. 3 the previous week despite shredding Iowa State 55-3 Saturday afternoon.
"We would have liked to have been in," TCU coach Gary Patterson said on ESPN. "We played our tails off and played with an edge all season, but if we wanted to control our destiny, then we needed to be undefeated. I wouldn't be honest if I said I wasn't surprised we dropped from third to sixth, but I know they had their reasons for doing what they needed to do."
All four playoff teams are conference champions, with Alabama winning the SEC, Oregon the Pac-12, Florida State the Atlantic Coast Conference and Ohio State the Big Ten.
Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones drops back to pass during the first half of the Big Ten Conference championship NCAA college football game against Wisconsin Saturday in Indianapolis.The 12-member playoff committee was chaired by Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long, who said Ohio State's "total team" performance in Saturday night's 59-0 thrashing of Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game catapulted the Buckeyes to the final playoff spot. Ohio State is down to its third-string quarterback, Cardale Jones, who threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns against the Badgers.
TCU instead will face Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl on New Year's Eve, while Baylor will face Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day. Both games are part of the six major bowls that incorporate the two semifinals, as are the Orange and Fiesta bowls that will take place on New Year's Eve.
The Fiesta Bowl will pair Arizona and Boise State, while the Orange Bowl has Georgia Tech and Mississippi State. Georgia Tech lost the ACC title game 37-35 Saturday night to FSU, while Mississippi State was No. 1 for a month this season before getting toppled by Alabama.
Saban and Meyer met a third time during the 2010 regular season, when Alabama thumped Florida 31-6 in Tuscaloosa. Meyer left Florida after that season and took a year off from coaching until accepting the job at Ohio State, where he has since posted a 36-3 record.
Meyer was asked Sunday if he'd expected another meeting so soon with Saban, who won his first national title at LSU in 2003.
Oregon's Marcus Mariota passes against Arizona during the Pac-12 Conference championship Friday in Santa Clara, Calif."I'm not surprised, because I think Ohio State is an elite program and obviously Alabama is as well," Meyer said. "I still think we're in the building stages. A couple of years ago, we took over a team that lost seven games, and we built it up but then lost some good players last year, so this year we're still a very young team.
"I thought it might be next year when we would reach this, especially when we lost our quarterback, but I knew at some point that if you're going to reach for the top, you have to go through the top, and Alabama has certainly been at the top of college football."
The two coaches insist there is much mutual respect for one another that will continue through their showdown in New Orleans.
"We've done some ESPN games and stuff together, and I consider him a good friend," Saban said. "I certainly have a lot of personal respect for the kind of professional he is and the kind of coach he is and the programs he has had."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.