Nick Saban and Mark Dantonio have so much in common it’s scary. But there is one thing that separates them, and it’s a biggie. Dantonio wants something Saban already has four of — a national championship — and in order for his Spartans to win one this season, they have to first beat Alabama in their College Football Playoff matchup in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve.

Let’s look at the ties that bind two of the best college football coaches in America:

1. Saban and Dantonio were defensive backs in college. Saban played at Kent State from 1970-71, while Dantonio is a former Gamecock, having played at South Carolina from 1976-78. Coincidentally, when Dantonio attended high school in Zanesville, Ohio, Saban tried to recruit him to play for Kent State.

2. Dantonio was assistant for Saban at Michigan State. They coached together in East Lansing from 1995-99, when Saban went 34-24-1 with the Spartans before leaving for LSU. Dantonio stayed at Michigan State through the 200o season before becoming the defensive coordinator at Ohio State and eventually the head man at Cincinnati before returning to East Lansing in 2007.

3. Both coaches have been at their current job since 2007. Dantonio is 87-32 in his nine seasons at Michigan State for a .731 winning percentage. Saban is 103-18 (.851) at Alabama. Including this year, Dantonio’s Spartan teams have won 11 games or more five times; Saban’s Crimson Tide squads have won 11 or more seven times.

4. Neither has been gangbusters in bowls. Dantonio is 5-4 in postseason play, including 4-4 with Michigan State, which has won its past four bowls to tie a Big Ten record. Saban is just 8-8 is bowls, including 5-3 with Alabama.

5. Dantonio is one of four former Saban assistants who has never beaten his mentor. Dantonio and Saban have faced each other once, in the Capital One Bowl five years ago, which Alabama won 49-7. Saban is a combined 8-0 in games against Dantonio, Derek Dooley, Will Muschamp and Jim McElwain-coached teams, winning by an average of 28 points. Alabama is a 9.5-point favorite to beat Sparty in a little more than two weeks.

“My mindset as a football coach has been shaped by the people I’ve worked for. Certainly Jim Tressel … but Nick Saban’s probably the guy too that from a defensive system certainly, and then also from just an overall football system,” Dantonio said. “He’s truly a mentor.”

Of those aforementioned assistants, Dantonio’s calm, steely temperament is clearly most similar to Saban, but even that might be tested if the Spartans don’t beat the Tide. However, regardless of how this year’s Alabama-Michigan State matchup plays out, the bond between two of the game’s top coaches will only get stronger.

“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,” Saban said of his Cotton Bowl counterpart. “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.”