Urban Meyer and Nick Saban know each other well. They’re friends off the field, but more importantly to the college football fan, they’ve had some epic battles back in the day in the SEC.

Those days are gone, Meyer trading his Florida Gators windbreaker for an Ohio State sweater vest, but for at least one more time, the two best coaches in college football will go head-to-head with major implications on the line. The matchup is too good to miss – so much so that Ohio State almost magically got better than both TCU and Baylor in the minds of College Football Playoff selection committee members.

Saban leads the head-to-head series 2-1 but this game is about so much more than the men patrolling the sidelines.

Long known for their impressive defence, Alabama brings one of the top offences in the nation to the Sugar Bowl. Led by receiver Amari Cooper and running back TJ Yeldon, the Crimson Tide averaged nearly 500 yards of offence per game, finishing 16th in the NCAA.

Both Cooper and Yeldon will be worth keeping an eye on, Cooper projects to be a Top 10 selection in April’s NFL Draft while Yeldon should go somewhere in the second round, but safety Landon Collins may be the team’s best draft eligible prospect. The junior led Alabama’s 11th ranked defence and should hear his name called in the Top 10 come late April as well.

The big story in Ohio State is their seemingly endless supply of Heisman-calibre quarterbacks. After losing Braxton Miller, who many had pegged as a Heisman frontrunner, for the year to a shoulder injury, the Buckeyes found JT Barrett who finished fifth in Heisman voting. Then, when Barrett was lost for the season to an ankle injury on Rivalry Weekend, one-time third stringer Cardale Jones led OSU to a huge Big 10 Championship win over Wisconsin.

Jones will need to show he can sustain his play from his only start this season for the Buckeyes to have a chance in this one, but at the very least he gives Ohio State fans hope they can hang with Alabama.

There was some surprise that Ohio State found their way into the Top 4 teams and the innagural College Football Playoff, and the betting line shows that as Alabama enters the Sugar Bowl as 9.5-point favourites. It’s a great story, let’s just hope it turns out to be a great game too.