During his time at Texas A.M. Johnny Manziel was able to knock off the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide once, and that Alabama team went on to win the National Championship.
Manziel told Cleveland.com that to beat Alabama you have to respect them, but not fear them.
"You absolutely give respect where it's due," Manziel said. "You respect them, but you don't fear them."
Ohio State's third-string quarterback Cardale Jones will take on the Crimson Tide in only his second career start for the Buckeyes.
Manuel's advice for Jones is just to let the game come to him and put trust in his coaches.
"My advice to (Jones) is not to try and do too much," said Manziel. "Put the pressure on Coach Meyer and Coach Herman to put you in good position to succeed and go from there."
Over the past few years, dual-threat quarterbacks have given Alabama fits, and in Manziel's first start against Alabama he went 24 of 31 for 252 yards and two touchdowns with 92 yards rushing.
When asked what the key is to beating a team like Alabama, Manziel said not forcing things and protecting the football.
"What's important is to be extremely efficient and take care of the little things," Manziel said. "Don't make things any worse than it already is being out there against a defense that's extremely good and fast. Take what's given to you and live to fight another day. Don't force things. Sometimes it's OK to punt the ball and get a stop on defense."
Jones and the Buckeyes will have to play similar to their performance against Wisconsin in the B1G Championship Game. Throwing for three touchdowns on 12-17 passing for 257 yards and no interceptions Jones earned the B1G Championship Game MVP on the way to a 59-0 win.
According to Manziel, during his time at Texas A.M. they tried to make sure not to over-hype Alabama or put them on a pedestal.
"Bama being Bama, they are pretty prestigious and what's made them so good is their defense. You approach it as you would any other game and you don't put them on a pedestal," Manziel said. "At least that's how we did it. It's Alabama, it's a big game and you have to perform well if you want to have a chance to win."
When it comes to prestige, Ohio State matches up with Alabama pretty well, but Urban Meyer and Buckeyes will need to play at their best to win the Sugar Bowl on January 1st.
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