Urban Meyer and Nick Saban know each other well. Stitched Tigers Jerseys . They’re friends off the field, but more importantly to the college football fan, they’ve had some epic battles back in the day in the SEC. Those days are gone, Meyer trading his Florida Gators windbreaker for an Ohio State sweater vest, but for at least one more time, the two best coaches in college football will go head-to-head with major implications on the line. The matchup is too good to miss – so much so that Ohio State almost magically got better than both TCU and Baylor in the minds of College Football Playoff selection committee members. Saban leads the head-to-head series 2-1 but this game is about so much more than the men patrolling the sidelines. Long known for their impressive defence, Alabama brings one of the top offences in the nation to the Sugar Bowl. Led by receiver Amari Cooper and running back TJ Yeldon, the Crimson Tide averaged nearly 500 yards of offence per game, finishing 16th in the NCAA. Both Cooper and Yeldon will be worth keeping an eye on, Cooper projects to be a Top 10 selection in April’s NFL Draft while Yeldon should go somewhere in the second round, but safety Landon Collins may be the team’s best draft eligible prospect. The junior led Alabama’s 11th ranked defence and should hear his name called in the Top 10 come late April as well. The big story in Ohio State is their seemingly endless supply of Heisman-calibre quarterbacks. After losing Braxton Miller, who many had pegged as a Heisman frontrunner, for the year to a shoulder injury, the Buckeyes found JT Barrett who finished fifth in Heisman voting. Then, when Barrett was lost for the season to an ankle injury on Rivalry Weekend, one-time third stringer Cardale Jones led OSU to a huge Big 10 Championship win over Wisconsin. Jones will need to show he can sustain his play from his only start this season for the Buckeyes to have a chance in this one, but at the very least he gives Ohio State fans hope they can hang with Alabama. There was some surprise that Ohio State found their way into the Top 4 teams and the innagural College Football Playoff, and the betting line shows that as Alabama enters the Sugar Bowl as 9.5-point favourites. It’s a great story, let’s just hope it turns out to be a great game too. Tigers Jerseys 2020 . -- The Detroit Lions made it crystal clear to Golden Tate that he was their top target in free agency. Tigers Jerseys 2019 . -- Miami Dolphins defensive co-ordinator Kevin Coyle defended the management style of coach Joe Philbin in the wake of the teams bullying scandal. https://www.cheaptigers.com/ .J. -- Pete Carroll said it was the suspension of linebacker Bruce Irvin last spring that finally got the attention of the rest of the Seattle Seahawks that they needed to be taking their commitment to the team more seriously.LAKE LOUISE, Alta. - Tina Mazes gamble paid off handsomely. The Slovenian won the season-opening womens World Cup downhill Friday at the Lake Louise Ski Resort.The Olympic gold medallist in both downhill and giant slalom this year was fastest in the second training run. She decided to skip the third and final training session Thursday.Its a risky decision to make, Maze said. I was really nervous, I must say.It was a long, long day yesterday and today to start. Waiting is sometimes tough. I think it was a good decision and Im ready for the next two races.Another downhill is scheduled for Saturday with a super-G to follow Sunday.Maze claimed her 25th career World Cup victory Friday and her second this season to take the early lead in the overall standings. The 31-year-old also won a slalom last month in Levi, Finland.Her victory Friday was her first in Lake Louise.I came here with this wish to win once in Lake Louise, Maze said.Her time Friday was one minute 50.98 seconds in falling snow over the 3,097-metre course. Runner-up Anna Fenninger of Austria was almost half a second back in 1:51.43 while Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein was third in 1:51.52.U.S. ski star Lindsey Vonn was eighth in her first race in almost a year. The woman with 14 career wins in Lake Louise has undergone two knee surgeries in as many years. Vonn had been hoping for a top-five result Friday.I think Im ready to go faster now, Vonn said. For the first day back, I think it was a very solid result and Im definitely happy with it. Every race Im going to build more and more confidence.Although they were held off the podium Friday, the U.S. put four skiers in the top 10. Edmonton-born Laurenne Ross was fourth, Julia Mancuso finished seventh and Stacey Cook placed ninth.Last year was so rough for us that it really couldnt get a whole lot worse, so were excited to have a little more confidence than we had at the beginning of last season, Ross said.It feels good to know we can compete with the top girls, so I have a feeling this season is going to be a lot more positive for us.Larisa Yurkiw of Owen Sound, Ont., was the lone Canadian entrant and finished 222nd. Detroit Tigers Store. She hadnt cracked the top 30 in training.I had a lot of work to do after the training runs, she said. They were not where Id hoped they would be. Coming into the race, I knew I had to make some big gains.I have to use my mature side and know that today was good, but Im still striving for that podium throughout this season.Yurkiw underwent a pair of off-season knee surgeries, which delayed her return to snow in the fall.Im a little low on mileage so I think my reactions are not quite there yet, she said.Maze tied for first with Dominique Gisin of Switzerland in the womens Olympic downhill and also won giant slalom gold in Sochi, Russia.Maze captured the overall womens World Cup title in 2013 for her results across all four disciplines of downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom. Winning each race, no matter where you are is really important, but as it is the first downhill ... its pretty amazing for me to be able to win here and to find right away this sliding feeling in downhill as Ive been in slalom and GS, Maze said.Fenninger was quickest in the third and final training run. While shes finished as high as second in super-G in Lake Louise, a silver medal in downhill was her best result at the ski resort west of Calgary.Its a pretty good start, the Austrian said. My run was good and Im happy.The first two days (of training) I had some problems with my boots and I did some tests. It was pretty important to be fast in the last (training).Weirather was second in a downhill and in super-G last year in Lake Louise. After three sunny days of training, she found the reduced visibility for Fridays race challenging.It wasnt easy because it snowed in the night, Weirather said. It was kind of aggressive so you felt a little sketchy. Your skis were always holding on and you couldnt see that much. It was tougher than the training runs.After winning the mens downhill and super-G in Lake Louise last weekend, Kjetil Jansrud of Norway kept his streak alive by capturing Fridays downhill in Beaver Creek, Colo. Calgarys Jan Hudec finished 17th and Manny Osborne-Paradis of North Vancouver, B.C., was 20th. ' ' '