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The Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs will meet in the College Football Playoff national title game for the second time in the last five seasons on Monday night from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Alabama will go for their second championship in a row and their fifth in the CFP era. Georgia generally has all the talent they need to win titles, but the Bulldogs haven’t done it in the first seven years of this event.
No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 3 Georgia
How Alabama got here
The Crimson Tide ran through their first five games undefeated before their lone loss of the season, a 41-38 defeat to the Texas A&M Aggies in October. Alabama knew they needed to run the table the rest of the way to get to where they want to be, and they had a few close calls including a four-overtime victory over the Auburn Tigers on Thanksgiving weekend. The Crimson Tide won the SEC West and pulled away from Georgia in the conference title game to jump into the top spot of the final CFP rankings, and they did not allow a touchdown to the Cincinnati Bearcats in semifinal game.
How Georgia got here
The Bulldogs got past the Clemson Tigers in a defensive battle in Week 1 with a 10-3 score before blowing out every opponent in their final 11 games of the regular season. Georgia won by at least 17 points in every matchup during that span until they were knocked off by Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. The Bulldogs got back on track quickly by jumping all over the Michigan Wolverines early for a 34-11 victory in the semifinal game on New Year’s Eve.