EAST LANSING -- Alabama coach Nick Saban might be the only coach in the FBS ranks to have a statue of himself outside of the stadium he's currently coaching in, but on Sunday night, he saved the praise for his former assistant coach Mark Dantonio.

"I think Mark has exceeded the expectations of all of us in terms of what he's done at Michigan State, and certainly done a better job than I ever did there, I can tell you that,'' said Saban, who coached the Spartans from 1995-99 before leaving to take the head coaching job at LSU.

"I think he's done a phenomenal job there and I think as well as anybody could be expected to win the Big Ten championships that he's won, and to have the kind of consistency and performance they've had over the last few years is pretty phenomenal, but not surprising to me."

Dantonio's No. 3-ranked Spartans (12-1) face Saban's No. 2-ranked Crimson Tide at 8 p.m. Dec. 31 in the Cotton Bowl -- a semifinal of the College Football Playoff.

The winner advances to the national title game on Jan. 11 in Glendale, Arizona, against the winner of the Dec. 31 Orange Bowl semifinal between No. 1 Clemson (13-0) and No. 4 Oklahoma.

Saban, whose Alabama team hammered Florida in the SEC championship game Saturday, said he was tuned in to watch MSU drive 82 yards on 22 plays for the game-winning touchdown in a 16-13 victory over Iowa in the Big Ten championship game.

"I got to see that 22-play drive last night, and it was pretty awesome, and I was rooting for the Spartans after being there for 10 years myself and rooting for my former assistant Mark, and glad they came out on top," Saban said. "It will be a huge challenge for us to play against a great quarterback like Connor Cook."

Saban reflected on his head coaching tenure with the Spartans, remembering it as a challenging time. Saban went 34-24-1 at MSU from 1995-99.

"I took the job and we were on probation and didn't have a number of scholarships until the last year we were there," Saban said. "We certainly had a good that year (1999), probably not as good as Mark's teams have been the last couple three years."

Saban's best year at Michigan State was by far 1999, when he finished 9-2 at before taking the LSU job.

Dantonio's career record at Michigan State is 87-32. His teams have won 11 games or more in five separate seasons.

Saban won a national championship at LSU in 2001, coached the NFL's Miami Dolphins from 2005-2006 and won three national titles at Alabama -- in 2009, 2011 and 2012. His overall college record is 194-60-1.

The Crimson Tide are a 9-point favorite over the Spartans.

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