After Jimbo Fisher took over at Florida State in 2010, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl CEO and President Gary Stokan gave him a call.

Stokan wanted Fisher’s squad to headline a future Chick-fil-A kickoff game in Atlanta. Fisher, a first-year head coach who had been the coach-in-waiting in Tallahassee under Bobby Bowden, finally had the reins of his own program after serving as an offensive coordinator at Cincinnati, LSU and Florida State for the previous 11 seasons.

But Fisher admitted to Stokan on that phone call that he didn’t think his team was ready for a headliner nonconference showdown to open the season. He needed time to get his recruiting in order and to build FSU into what he wanted it to be before taking on one of the nation’s best in a kickoff game.

Three years later, Fisher was fresh off his first national title when he had another talk with Stokan. This time, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl CEO got the answer he wanted to hear.

“I think we’re ready.”

By “ready,” Fisher meant that FSU got to the point where he felt comfortable scheduling a headliner for 4 years down the road … with Nick Saban’s Alabama squad.

As it turned out, that was Fisher’s last season opener at Florida State. And whether it was 4 years or 10 years, his program might not have ever been “ready” enough to beat Alabama.

On Saturday, Fisher will take his new program into Tuscaloosa against the top-ranked Tide.

He and Saban will battle as SEC coaches for the first time, whether Fisher is ready or not.

Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Fisher admitted that when he accepted the job at Texas A&M in December, he had no idea that former ACC rival Clemson was on the schedule in Year 1. But Fisher obviously knew that he’d have an annual meeting with Saban’s squad, beginning in Year 1.

There would be no time to get his roster or his recruiting in order before facing the ultimate test, not that either has been much of a problem for Fisher so far. It’s Fisher’s Year 1 strides on and off the field that suggest he’ll eventually be a worthy adversary to Saban.

In a game that many thought Fisher’s team wouldn’t be ready for, a failed 2-point conversion attempt was the only thing separating the Aggies from No. 2 Clemson. That impressive showing, coupled with the significant transformation of quarterback Kellen Mond and A&M’s No. 3-ranked 2019 recruiting class (247sports), only added to the belief that Fisher can build the program into the monster that athletic director Scott Woodward envisioned when he offered that $75 million contract.

Of course in order to do that, Fisher will have to do something that no Saban disciple has ever done before — beat the G.O.A.T.

Saban is 12-0 against his assistants, a perfect mark that was in jeopardy until Tua Tagovailoa’s 2nd-and-26 heave to DeVonta Smith sank Kirby Smart’s Georgia squad in overtime of the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship.

That was the first time that Saban faced Smart, who spent time on Saban’s staff as Alabama defensive coordinator (2008-15), Alabama defensive backs coach (2007), Miami Dolphins safeties coach (2006) and even as LSU defensive backs coach (2004) when both he and Fisher were in Baton Rouge on Saban’s staff. Ironically enough, all 3 coaches now sit atop the 2019 recruiting class rankings.

While the Saban-Smart rivalry took off in 2017, it’s the Fisher-Saban rivalry that’ll begin the more intriguing battle Saturday. The SEC West foes will be penciled in for annual matchups, and unlike Georgia, their meetings won’t be dependent on random crossover draws, SEC Championships or Playoff showdowns.

It’s because of that annual Saban hurdle that gave the Fisher-to-the-SEC rumors pause. That was the case even when Fisher was being talked about as the replacement to Les Miles at LSU.

But Fisher didn’t shy from the challenge when he came to A&M. The annual Saban challenge won’t be overcome simply by A&M having the highest value of any college football program. Plenty of programs have attempted to throw big bucks at the Saban mountain, only to end up back on flat ground.

Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

For a brief period, it looked like A&M had the right solution to make that climb with Kevin Sumlin. In their inaugural season in the SEC, the Johnny Manziel-led Aggies went into Tuscaloosa and handed No. 1 Alabama its first and only loss of the 2012 campaign. But the Tide still rolled to a national title after that … as well as 5 consecutive victories vs. A&M by an average of 22.2 points. The Aggies failed to record a winning season in conference play during that stretch.

In Year 1, though, Saban already sees Fisher’s impact on A&M.

“I think everybody that takes over a program is really working hard to establish principles and values of the organization. The standard that you want people to work to in terms of effort, toughness, intangibles, discipline, things like that,” Saban said via 247sports. “Jimbo has obviously done a really good job of that.

“They’re a completely different kind of team than they’ve been in the past.”

On Saturday, we’ll find out just how different the Aggies are. Saban’s program is still the barometer for the rest of the SEC until further notice. That’s more true than ever in 2018 with Alabama becoming the first SEC program to kick off a season with 3 consecutive games of 50-plus points.

Coming off its first berth in the Associated Press Top 25 of the Fisher era, No. 22 A&M will be Alabama’s toughest test of the young season and vice versa. This is still an A&M program that lost 12 of its past 14 games vs. ranked opponents. Granted, that didn’t matter against Clemson when the Aggies were threatening to force overtime. Saban is putting more stock in that than he is some pre-Fisher era stat.

How fitting it is that Fisher’s SEC debut will be against Saban, the guy he coached for and the guy he needed years of prep to coach against.

Let’s see how ready Fisher is.