"My dad, a lifelong Michigan State fan, he calls me (the day the matchup was announced) he goes 'you know I've been waiting for this for 40 years, (MSU) is my team, but Roll Tide'," Chris said.

While it may be a difficult situation for the Posa family, they know that the love for their son outweighs their love for the Spartans. Chris is graduating this summer, so for Diane that meant she had to cheer for the Crimson Tide.

“We’re all excited, it’s also kind of conflicting," Diane said. "I love love love my Spartans, but I love my son more so I have to cheer for someone other than the Spartans. It’s a whole new thing for us."

While they may be disappointed with the situation, they have been able to find some humor in it all. At work, one of Ron's coworkers posted a sign to his office door that read "Roll Green, Roll White or Go Tide?", which gave everyone a good laugh. 

Chris spent his high school years at St. Mary's Preparatory in Orchard Lake, Mich., and for most of his life it was just assumed he would attend MSU.

"It's kind of bittersweet, my whole life I grew up a Michigan State fan when there weren't too many Michigan State fans," Chris said. "I had to suffer through the John L. Smith era and all that. Then I come to Alabama, all of my friends went to Michigan State, for the most part, and then they start getting good. It's kind of funny."

Chris even admitted that under normal circumstances, when the Spartans are playing other schools, he still likes to cheer for them.

Alabama offered Chris plenty of scholarship money for his grades and ACT score, he said, but his walk-on status for the Crimson Tide was aided by his father's MSU roommate and former-Spartan defensive back Carter Kamana, who played under current-Alabama head coach Nick Saban while he was at MSU.

Kamana knew enough people to get Chris' tape in the right hands, bettering his odds of being offered the walk-on position he accepted.

“Having lived in Michigan my whole life, I wanted to go somewhere nobody knew me,” Chris said.

Another part of the reason Chris liked Alabama was the warm weather, he said, even though the lack of a “white Christmas” this year bummed him out during the trip back home.

Chris and his parents always dreamed about the matchup that is to take place on New Year’s Eve. And it almost was predetermined, but the MSU versus Alabama home-and-home series scheduled for 2016-17 was cancelled.

"They set up the games for 2016-17 that never really worked out, when that got announced I was pumped for that, but the last three or four weeks of the season it was kind of like maybe if this team loses and you win by this much maybe then we'll meet up and to have it actually work out it's unreal," he said.

MSU has five players on its roster from Chris' former high school: redshirt freshman tight end Nathan Conrad, sophomore linebacker Sean Harrington, redshirt-freshman offensive lineman Jeremy Schram, freshman cornerback Tyson Smith and redshirt-freshman defensive back Jalen Watts-Jackson.

While Chris hasn't been in contact with all of his former teammates, he says that he and Schram have been communicating with some 'friendly trash-talk'.

"He played on the line with me at St. Mary's, (there's been) a healthy bit of chirping all in good fun," Chris said. "You got to talk a little smack, but at the same time I texted him before the Big Ten championship saying I hope you beat Iowa. But you got to poke fun sometimes."

Chris has been trying to give his team all the information he has on MSU to provide the Crimson Tide with any advantage he can.

"I think it's going to be football the way it should be played, just a battle," Chris said. "You know Michigan State isn't going to give up. I've been preaching it will be a four-quarter game no matter what."

He also warned his teammates about how much sophomore linebacker Jon Reschke likes to talk.

"I have kind of been warning people about how much Reschke likes to talk, I played against him in high school, I remember that for three years," Chris said. "He did bait me into a personal foul when we played in high school, I remember him yelling across the line for the first snap."

Chris' sister, Sarah, will be a freshman at MSU next year and he said she is on the fence of who she wants to root for, joking that she wants to root for him but when he makes her mad it's MSU.

"I did tell her if she cheers against us and we win I'm going to make her wear all crimson to her orientation and we'll see how many friends she makes," Chris said with a laugh.

So really, the best thing Chris’ family can do is wear white on game day, because whether Chris and his team win or lose, the Posa family will have split feelings like never before.

"Like I told him, I waited 40 years for the Spartans to get here but Roll Tide, that’s what we gotta do this year," Ron said. "Next year (if it’s) his alma mater vs our alma mater then we can go back to rooting for the Spartans.”