Bear Bryant versus Nick Saban. Nope, this isn’t another greatest college football coach of all time debate. It’s just a fantasy matchup we wish we could see.

When Kentucky and Alabama face each other on Oct. 1 — the first time they will meet since 2013 — the dream Bryant-Saban showdown will obviously not take place. It will simply be one of two cross-division rotational games for the Tide in 2016. The other is Bama’s visit to Tennessee on Oct. 15.

In that Alabama-Kentucky matchup three years ago, the Tide rolled to a 48-7 victory in Lexington to run its current win streak in the series to five. T.J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake each ran for two TDs as Bama scored on its last eight possessions and outgained the Wildcats 668-170.

In Mark Stoops’ only career game against Alabama, AJ McCarron threw for 359 yards – his high for a regular-season contest – including a 20-yard TD pass to Kevin Norwood. All Kentucky could manage was Maxwell Smith’s 30-yard scoring strike to Javess Blue midway through the third quarter that got the Wildcats within 31-7.

Not only has the Tide won five straight over Kentucky, it leads the all-time series 36-2-1, and its average margin of victory has been 26-7. Coincidentally, the last time the Wildcats beat Alabama was in 1997, when Kentucky pulled off a 40-34 stunner in overtime for its first win in the series in 75 years.

The decisive play in that 6-point victory was Tim Couch’s 26-yard TD pass to Craig Yeast. Kentucky’s only other win in the series was also a 6-point affair – when the Wildcats blanked the Tide 6-0 in 1922.

Alabama’s longest winning streak in the series is 16, which it accomplished from 1923-1938, according to winsipedia.com. The Tide’s largest margin of victory over Kentucky was the 45-0 shutout it pitched in 1980.

For perspective’s sake since its last meeting with Kentucky, Bama has reached and lost the Sugar Bowl twice before winning the national championship last season. Meanwhile, Stoops’ Wildcats have yet to finish better than 5-7 and are still trying to qualify for their first bowl game since 2010.