Top-ranked Alabama (12-0) will face No. 3 Ohio State (7-0) at 8 p.m. Monday in the College Football Playoff National Championship at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
How did they get here?
Alabama defeated No. 4 Notre Dame 31-14 in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl, which was relocated from California to Texas because of the pandemic.
Ohio State upset second-ranked Clemson 49-28 in the Sugar Bowl semifinal, avenging its loss to the Tigers in last season's semifinal.
Championship pedigree
The Crimson Tide will play for their sixth national championship under head coach Nick Saban. A sixth title for Saban at Alabama would tie him with Paul "Bear" Bryant for the most national championships with the Tide, but it would also place him alone atop the list for most overall championships by a head coach.
Saban also led LSU to the 2003 national championship during the old Bowl Championship Series era.
For Ohio State, a victory would be its seventh national championship of the poll era (since 1936) and first since the 2014 season.
The Tide earned a spot among the top teams in each of the first five years of the four-team playoff and were selected again this season for the sixth time in its first seven years of existence.
Both teams have competed on the biggest stage in the playoff era, with the Buckeyes beating Oregon 42-20 in the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship.
The Tide, meanwhile, are playing in their fifth national championship game in the last six seasons. Alabama is 2-2 in those games.
Matchup history
Alabama is 3-1 all-time against Ohio State, but the Buckeyes won the last meeting -- a 42-20 victory in the 2015 Sugar Bowl. The game served as a semifinal in the debut season of the College Football Playoff.
Players to watch
Alabama's DeVonta Smith became the first wide receiver to win the Heisman Trophy since 1991. He has amassed 105 catches for 1,641 yards and 20 touchdowns, including three in the Rose Bowl.
Can Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields top his Sugar Bowl performance? Fields threw six touchdowns and had only six incomplete passes in the game against Clemson. He was also banged up after that game, but head coach Ryan Day said Fields should be ready to play Monday night.
Another star Alabama receiver, Jaylen Waddle, is the unknown quotient. He broke his ankle Oct. 24 but returned to practice this week. Will he play in the championship game? Saban would only say Sunday that Waddle practiced to "some degree" and it will be a "game-time decision as to whether he thinks he can play and go out there and do his job well enough to contribute to the team."
