Orlando, Fla. — When No. 7 MSU and No. 15 Alabama meet on Saturday, it will be one of three Big Ten vs. SEC New Year’s Day matchups that will go a long way in determining conference standing next season.
Although most analysts and fans across the country break down the matchups as Big Ten strength vs. SEC speed, MSU head coach Mark Dantonio and Alabama head coach Nick Saban offered their own takes at a press conference Friday before Saturday’s 1 p.m. kickoff.
Dantonio said the SEC is a great conference and compared Alabama’s aggressive defensive line to Iowa’s, which helped hold the Spartans to six points in their only loss.
“It’s going to be which football team plays the best, but certainly the SEC is a premiere conference in this nation but I think the Big Ten is on equal footing in that respect,” Dantonio said.
The Spartans lost their only game against an SEC opponent on Jan. 1, 2009 against Georgia, but the rest of the conference has done fair against the SEC, going 14-15 against SEC in the last 11 years, despite SEC teams winning four straight national championships.
This year Wisconsin, Ohio State and MSU are all ranked in the Top 10, but the Big Ten is considered an underdog in five of their six remaining games.
With most of the head-to-head bowl matchups being played in Florida or other Southern locations, Dantonio said adjusting to the warm weather might also be a factor in Saturday’s game as the temperature is expected to be in the 70’s after being near 40 degrees to start the week.
“I thought we were going to be able to get acclimated a little bit early in the week but I had my toboggan and my gloves on on Sunday and I think it just got down to the gloves on Monday,” Dantonio said. “We were looking for a little warmer weather earlier in the week but we’ll have to play through that.”
The Big Ten has won five of the last six Capital One bowl games against the SEC dating back to 2005, with MSU’s 24-12 loss against Georgia in 2009 standing as the only loss.
The Big Ten is 91-86-6 all-time against the SEC in bowl games.
On the other side, Saban could draw on his experience from coaching at MSU during the late 1990’s to learn about the differences in fan bases between the Big Ten and the SEC.
“From a football standpoint, I don’t think the quality of either league should be questioned,” Saban said. “The biggest difference I’ve seen in a guy who’s been both places is for a long time there weren’t any pro sports in the South, so everybody kind of grew up identifying with their college team, and I think some of that passion still sort of exists, so I think it makes a great evironment to coach in and a lot of fun.”
Although Alabama has played five teams currently ranked in the Top 25 and finished the season against BCS championship game qualifier Auburn, Saban said the Big Ten has its share of great teams as well.
“I think there’s three teams in the Big Ten this year that all have an argument to be in the BCS,” Saban said. “All won 11 games, all were in the Top 10… “The quality of both leagues should not be in questioned.”
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