MIAMI GARDENS, Florida – Celebrating and weaving through a pandemic, college football season has finally reached the finish line. After much dismay, we have our national championship game, with Alabama and Ohio State looking to add to their strong collection of titles Monday night.
Alabama is number 1 in the main and favorite standings, after conquering them all during an impressive 12-0 season. Ohio State started late due to the Big Ten’s decision to postpone the season due to COVID-19, but the Buckeyes still won all seven games and upset Clemson in the semifinals.
It’s a match for the ages and it should be a shootout between two of the best crimes in the country.
Here’s how to watch the Ohio State-Alabama National Championship Game:
Nr. 1 Alabama Vs. Nr. 3 Ohio State
- WHAT THE: College Football Playoff National Game Championship
- WHEN: Monday, January 11th 8 pm ET
- WHERE: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida.
- POINT SPREAD: Alabama is up 8.5 points Monday at 5 p.m. ET, according to gambling site DraftKings.com. This line has remained very constant since it opened on January 2nd. Above / below is 74.5.
- TV: ESPN (plus megacast on several other channels)
- Current: ESPN-Plus
- TV Advertisers: Chris Fowler (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst), Allison Williams and Maria Taylor (secondary reporters)
- REGISTRATIONS: Alabama (12-0); Ohio State (7-0)
- LAST GAME: Semifinal no. Alabama defeated semifinals no. 4 Notre Dame 31-14 in the semifinals on January 1. The Rose Bowl game was played in Arlington, Texas. Nr. Ohio State’s 3-seed outscored Clemson 49-28 in the semifinals on Jan. 1 at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, LA.
- ALL-TIME SERIES: Alabama leads the series at all times, 3-1.
- LAST MEETING: Ohio State defeated Alabama 42-35 on January 1, 2015 in the semifinals of the college football playoffs after the 2014 season. Ohio State continued to win the national title that year.
- COACHES: Nick Saban of Alabama has won six national titles, including five in Alabama in the past 11 years. He has a 255-65-1 record during his 25 seasons as head coach in Toledo, Michigan, LSU and Alabama. Ryan Day is in his second year as head coach at Ohio State. He has an overall record of 23-1, his only loss coming to Clemson last year during the playoffs.
HISTORY OF THE SERIES
- January 1, 2015 – Ohio State 42, Alabama 35 (CFP Playoff Semifinals)
- January 2, 1995 – Alabama 24, Ohio 17 (Florida Citrus Bowl)
- August 27, 1986 – Alabama 16, Ohio 10
- January 2, 1978 – Alabama 35, Ohio State 6 (Sugar Bowl)
Justin Fields (1) and Ohio State coach Ryan Day hope to bring home a national title for the Big Ten on Monday night. (SUA TODAY Sports)
Here are three things to look for in an Alabama-Ohio State game:
1. How healthy is Justin Fields?
During Ohio’s angry victory over Clemson, Ohio State defender Justin Fields had a huge impact on his ribs in the second quarter, which would have eliminated most people. But he got stuck and threw six touchdown passes anyway.
Ohio State has played its cards close to the news if Fields is 100%. Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said he had a good week of training, and Fields said “it will be good to come on Monday night.” all reluctant to take off running. Sometimes he was prone to turnover – he threw three interceptions against Indiana in the toughest game of the year – and he has to avoid those against Alabama.
2. Can the Alabama crime stop?
The Alabama offense is so good that people have come up with good arguments for THREE different players in this group who could have won the Heisman Trophy. Defender Mac Jones has the highest defender rating ever, completing 77 percent of his passes for 4,036 meters, with 36 touchdown passes and just four interceptions. He didn’t win. Neither did Najee Harris, who rushed for 1,387 meters and scored 24 touchdowns.
The winner was wide receiver DeVonta Smith, who had 105 huge catches for 1,641 meters and 20 touchdown receptions. It takes a long time for the winner to win that award, but his season was so overwhelming that the award was well deserved. Ohio State simply has no defense to stop all these weapons.
3. The decade plus of Nick Saban’s domination
I would already claim that Nick Saban is the greatest college football coach of all time, but a victory on Monday night would give him a seventh national title and put him ahead of Bear Bryant.
Saban’s “Decade of Domination” in Alabama was chronicled in a great book that looked at all the best decades in college football history and came to the conclusion that what Saban did in Alabama is unmatched in the history of the game. Adding another title on Monday – the sixth in 12 years in Alabama – would be just the icing on the cake.
GameDay prediction
Here is Tom Brew’s prediction for the game. CLICK HERE