TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama is the No. 1-ranked team in the first-ever College Football Playoff, drawing one of the hottest teams in the nation Jan. 1 in New Orleans — Urban Meyer’s Ohio State Buckeyes.
Alabama comes into the game on an eight-game winning streak after losing to Ole Miss 23-17 on the first Saturday in October.
Ohio State has won 11 in a row since absorbing a stunning 35-21 loss at home to Virginia Tech back on Sept. 6 in the second game of the season.
The Crimson Tide won the Southeastern Conference with a 42-13 rout of Missouri in Saturday’s championship game.
Ohio State jumped up to claim the No. 4 spot from its No.5 ranking the week before after demolishing Wisconsin 59-0 in the Big Ten title game.
The two programs have played three times with Alabama winning all three, but not since Jan. 2, 1995, when the Tide beat the Buckeyes 24-17 in the Citrus Bowl.
But the two coaches have a more recent past.
Saban faced Ohio State’s Urban Meyer three times when Meyer as at Florida, twice in SEC championship games.
“I know what kind of coach Urban Meyer is,” Saban said Sunday.
Saban lost the first in the 2008 SEC title game 31-20 but won the next year’s meeting 32-13 on the way to the 2009 national title. The loss was the only defeat for the Gators that season and denied them the opportunity to play for a second straight BCS title.
The two faced each other again in the 2010 regular season with Saban’s Tide whipping Meyer’s Gators 31-6 in Tuscaloosa. Just like this year, with both the Tide and Buckeyes bringing 12-1 records into the semifinals, the Tide and Gators had identical records going into that game. The Tide was 4-0 and ranked No 1. The Gators were 4-0 and ranked No. 7.
Saban has three national championships since Meyer left Gainesville.