Alabama football’s 2012 squad was a death machine. The Crimson Tide went 13-1, with only a road upset against Johnny Manziel’s Texas A&M squad to blemish its record.

UA ran over Notre Dame in the national championship game to close the campaign. Before that, one of the Tide’s early victims was Western Kentucky.

The passing game coordinator for WKU that season? A young Nick Sheridan.

“It wasn’t the most enjoyable day for the Hilltoppers,” Sheridan, now the offensive coordinator for Alabama, told reporters Monday. “But our kids battled hard. We had a lot of really good players there at Western Kentucky during that time. Obviously Alabama did as well.”

The Hilltoppers, coached by Willie Taggert that season, brought several players who would have cups of coffee in the NFL. Unfortunately for them, Alabama had perhaps the peak of Nick Saban’s joyless murderball teams, featuring the likes of Chance Warmack, Barrett Jones, CJ Mosely, AJ McCarron, Eddie Lacy and TJ Yeldon.

The Crimson Tide cruised to a 35-0 victory in its first game of the season, remaining No. 1 in the nation with the win. WKU finished the year 7-6 and fell to Central Michigan in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl to close the campaign.

The 101,821 announced fans left an impression on Sheridan. So did hearing a clip of Bear Bryant’s famous “Call your mama,” South Central Bell commercial.

“I thought there were really, really great players and coaches here at Alabama that we were competing against,” Sheridan said. “It was an incredible environment. I can remember just the songs, the pageantry, the history, traditions, you certainly feel that when you come to a place like Alabama. I can remember specifically hearing coach Bryant’s voice about calling your mom. I remember that being played over the big screen.”

The next time WKU faced the Crimson Tide it was 2016. The Hilltoppers fared slightly better in that game, at least scoring a touchdown in the 38-10 Alabama win.

Once again, there was a connection to the current Alabama coaching staff. Tight ends coach Bryan Ellis was in charge of wide receivers and the passing game for the 2016 Hilltoppers, who went on to win the Conference USA championship and the Boca Raton Bowl.

Despite the loss, Ellis recalled the matchup being helpful for WKU in the long run.

“That’s Reuben Foster, all those secondary guys, all those people,” Ellis said during UA’s preseason camp. “They had a really good team, really good players. And to be honest, it made us better. We started out slow that year and end up winning back-to-back championships, and I think playing Alabama really kind of helped us see where we were at, at that point in the season.”

Ellis would eventually become the offensive coordinator at Western Kentucky under current Hilltopper head coach Tyson Helton, before leaving for Georgia Southern ahead of the 2022 season. He joined Alabama’s staff when offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb left for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, leading to Nick Sheridan’s promotion from the TE coach spot.

Ellis said he’d do whatever he could for the Tide if his WKU experience could be useful for Saturday.

“I coach at Alabama now and anything it takes for us to win, we’ll do that,” Ellis said. “And everybody there (at WKU) that I love and adore, they’re very aware of that as well.”

Alabama and Western Kentucky are scheduled to kick off at 6:05 p.m. CT Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game will be aired on ESPN.