DALLAS — Mark Dantonio glanced toward Nick Saban during the final news conference before their teams meet in the College Football Playoff and gave a little grin at his old boss.
“He’s letting me answer all the questions, I guess. First, anyway,” Dantonio said Wednesday. “We’ll probably get to kick off.”
The Michigan State coach didn’t mind deferring to his counterpart from Alabama. If it wasn’t for Saban, Dantonio and the Spartans might not be where they are today.
The third-ranked Spartans and No. 2 Crimson Tide will ring in the new year Thursday night in a game that will determine which team plays for the national championship.
“A lot of the things that we do are patterned after the things that I learned from him, whether it’s technique in the secondary, in the back end a little bit, or defensively, or just the structure of the entire program, recruiting. A lot of different aspects,” said Dantonio, who was defensive backs coach at Michigan State when Saban was head coach from 1995-99.
Saban was very early in his coaching career when Dantonio first caught his attention as a player at Zanesville High School in Ohio. Saban watched Dantonio’s coaching career progress, always impressed. When Saban got the Michigan State job, he hired Dantonio away from Kansas.
The two parted ways when Saban went to LSU, where he won the first of his four national titles. Saban tried the NFL for a couple of seasons with the Miami Dolphins before returning to college in 2007.
Hiring Saban changed everything for the Crimson Tide, a traditional power that was flailing as it tried to recapture past glory. Saban and Alabama have set the standard since, going 98-18 with three national championships and four Southeastern Conference titles.
A couple months before Alabama landed Saban, Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis was searching for a new head coach, with the Spartans coming off three straight losing seasons and firmly relegated to the second division in the Big Ten.
Hollis had his eye on Dantonio, who was the Cincinnati coach at the time, and called Saban for a recommendation.
Saban gave Dantonio a ringing endorsement and with little fanfare Michigan State hired a program-changing head coach of its own.
“He’s, obviously, blossomed into (doing) a fantastic job in terms of what he’s done at Michigan State right now,” Saban said. “And I think the world should recognize what a great job he’s done.”
It would be hard not to at this point.
Michigan State has won at least 11 games in five of the last six seasons. The Spartans have won two Big Ten titles, the Rose Bowl and the Cotton Bowl in the last three seasons.
Dantonio has clearly established himself as one of the best coaches in college football and turned Michigan State into an elite program.
Cotton Bowl 6 p.m. Thursday, ESPN
No. 3 Michigan St. (12-1) vs. No. 2 Alabama (12-1)
Line: Alabama by 10.
WHAT’S AT STAKE
A trip to Arizona to play for the national championship Jan. 11. Alabama is trying to erase the memory of last season’s College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Ohio State. The Tide was about a 10-point favorite in that game against the Big Ten champions, too. Michigan State is looking for its third straight major bowl victory after winning the Rose and Cotton to end the last two seasons.
KEY MATCHUP
Michigan State NT Malik McDowell vs. Alabama C Ryan Kelly. McDowell is a sophomore and the only player on the Michigan State roster who was a consensus five-star recruit. He does not have a typical nose tackle build at 6-foot-6 and 275 pounds, but he is quick off the ball and powerful. Kelly was the Rimington Award winner as the best center in the nation and a second-team AP All-American. The Crimson Tide wants to run big TB Derrick Henry between the tackles. How successful Alabama is will depend a lot on how Kelly handles McDowell.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Michigan State: QB Connor Cook. An all-Big Ten pick and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award winner as the top senior quarterback in the nation, Cook has passed for 2,921 yards and 24 touchdowns this season. He also missed the Ohio State game in November with a late-season right shoulder injury. He says it’s 100 percent.
Alabama: The Crimson Tide defensive linemen. All 11 of them that rotate in and out of the game. All-America DE A’Shawn Robinson might be the best of the bunch. Or maybe it is DE Jarran Reed? Or DE Jonathan Allen? Or NTs Darren Lake and Da’Ron Payne? Or pass-rush specialists Tim Williams and Ryan Anderson?
