Here’s everything you need to know about the National Championship Game between No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Clemson.
Nick Saban’s Alabama team appeared to be steamrolling the Oklahoma Sooners early on, but Kyler Murray showed why he won the Heisman as he did everything he could to will his team back into the Orange Bowl. 417 total yards and three touchdowns wouldn’t be enough because of just how good the Crimson Tide are on both offense and defense, and Alabama came out with a 45-34 win over the Big 12’s best.
Over in Dallas, Clemson actually absolutely steamrolled the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Notre Dame looked uncomfortable and out of place as Dabo Swinney’s Tigers demolished them. Clemson’s true freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed 27 of 39 passes for 327 yards and three touchdowns. And then the Tigers’ defense held Notre Dame to just three points. Clemson won 30-3.
Now, Clemson and Alabama are ready to meet for the fourth time in four years in the College Football Playoffs. This is the third time in the past four seasons that the two teams are set to compete with a national title on the line. And this game should be as competitive and thrilling as any we’ve seen between the two teams.
Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa appears fully healthy. And that’s good for this game. This year, Tagovailoa has thrown 41 touchdowns and only four interceptions. But he’ll be meeting a pretty good defense in Levi’s Stadium. The Tigers only allow teams to score 13.7 points per game while their offense scores 44.3 points per game.
This national championship should be a thrilling one as both teams appear to be remarkably similar in many ways and are clearly, by far, the best teams in college football.
How to watch and bet on the National Championship Game
- Date: Monday, Jan. 7
- Start time: 8 p.m. EST
- Location: Santa Clara, CA
- Stadium: Levi’s Stadium
- Spread: Alabama -6
- Channel: ESPN
- Stream: WatchESPN
Prediction: The Crimson Tide and the Clemson Tigers are clearly the best teams in the country. They’re great at everything that they do. There’s a realistic chance that this national title game, like the others, that these two teams have played, will be a contest that is high scoring and goes down to the wire. Alabama has a slight advantage at quarterback here and is a solid favorite in this game for good reason. Expect Tua Tagovailoa to lead Alabama to yet another national title on Monday night.