Nick Saban has dwarfed not just Urban Meyer but Bear Bryant, too

When comparing the Alabama and Ohio State coaches, well, there really is no comparison

Let's cut through the noise and get right to the heart of who rules the roost in college football. The incorrect answer is Urban Meyer. The correct answer is Nick Saban. The distance between them isn't even close.

This is not to say that Meyer -- with his three national championships, impressive dominion at Ohio State and brilliant football mind -- is not a formidable, even incredible, football coach. He is. He's just not Nick Saban. He is not, unlike his counterpart in Alabama, going to finish his career as the greatest college football coach of all time.

Saban alone will claim that mantle when his coaching days are done. From his office, where he and I have sat a few times and not-entirely-pleasantly haggled over the idea of his legacy and what it will or should mean, you can stand up and glance out his window at the Paul W. Bryant Museum. What should be an enshrined reminder to what Saban truly competes against has instead become something he's already dwarfed.

Yes, Bear Bryant has, for now, a record six national championships. After last season's triumph over Clemson, Saban sits at five. But he has claimed that consistent greatness in a much more competitive football climate. Money has poured into the so-called "amateur" athletics of college football; with it have come sharper minds, bigger pressures and much fiercer competition, particularly in the SEC.

That's another reason Meyer is not on the same level. Yes, the Ohio State coach claimed two of his three national championships at Florida. But you must measure each man for not just what they've won but for what they've built and where.

Saban had a Herculean task in not just turning LSU and Alabama around but doing so in the SEC. Meyer inherited significant talent and much stronger programs at both Florida and Ohio State, the latter in a much weaker conference. That's a significant difference.

When Saban took over Alabama in 2007, the Crimson Tide had, in the 10 previous years, finished the season in the AP Top 25 just three times -- never higher than eighth.

The decade leading up to Saban's takeover of Alabama saw not a single national championship (the last one, before Saban, was 1992), just one conference championship and winning seasons only half of the time. Alabama was mediocre at best, an embarrassment at our most honest. They were a shell of former glory, the kind most difficult to resurrect because you compete not just with the present but the past.

It was a very different story for Meyer. He took over Ohio State's reins in 2012, and while it still had the stink of Jim Tressel's ugly departure, it was also the program Tressel had built: nine AP Top 25 finishes in the decade before Meyer arrived, six conference championships, only one losing season, the 2002 National Championship, and the advantage of competing in a conference not exactly bursting with SEC-like competition.

These things matter. The distinction between, say, greatest player or coach of all time and the guy who's third or fifth or 10th on that list rests in the details, the nuances and the slight distinctions.

Since Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the SEC -- Saban or his rivals -- have won seven of the nine national championships. The Big Ten won one over that span (under Meyer). Saban has led Alabama to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 in eight consecutive seasons, an all-time record. He has won huge game after huge game, bolstering his all-time record of 13 wins against the top three teams in the AP Top 25.

Saban strikes fear, real fear, into opponents. And with all respect to Jim Harbaugh who, like Saban and Meyer, is a football genius: Harbaugh would not make Saban lose sleep at night if he'd taken over, say, Auburn.

Not sure Meyer can say the same. It is certainly possible Harbaugh's arrival will dent and diminish Meyer's hold on the Big Ten.

We'll find out. Harbaugh at Michigan is not the same thing as Ohio State suddenly joining the SEC, but it's a challenge worthy of Meyer's biggest supporters. There is a tension and worry that has fallen over Columbus, Ohio, one that pulls eyes north to glance toward Ann Arbor, Michigan, and what's brewing there.

That'll be a fascinating battle, Meyer-Harbaugh.

It's just not nearly as fascinating as the one Saban has been undertaking and winning since he arrived in Alabama, where he has gone up against every other coach, ever, and won.

Forget Meyer. Saban has already passed Bear Bryant, a mere five-iron from the museum celebrating the man who used to be the greatest of all time.