The Buckeyes beat Clemson in the Sugar Bowl while the Crimson Tide beat the Fighting Irish in the Rose Bowl
The College Football Playoff National Championship Game has two old rivals with current accounts.
This Friday night, the protagonists of the January 11 game were defined at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.
First, No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide sealed his ticket after trailing No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 31-14 in the Rose Bowl, which was held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texans, and not the usual California venue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Later, In the Sugar Bowl, the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes by defeating the No. 2 Clemson Tigers 49-28, who came in as current number two after losing to the LSU Tigers in the National Championship Game last season.
Alabama and Ohio State have met four times, with three wins for the Crimson Tide, but the last game was won by the Buckeyes.
The first game between the two programs was in the 1978 Sugar Bowl, where Tide won 35-6; in 1986 it was the second game during the start of the regular season at Giants Stadium in Meadowlands with Alabama again with a favorable score, 35-6; and 1995, the Crimson Tide also took victory in the Citrus Bowl, 42-20.
Their last meeting was at the College Football Playoff Semifinals in 2015, with Ohio State winning 42-35 on the way to winning its first national championship game in this format, 42-20 against the Oregon Ducks.
In June of this year, the programs announced that they will meet for the first time in their history in the regular season and both teams will play at home in the seasons 2027 and 2028.
The Crimson Tide will visit the state of Ohio on September 18, 2017, while the Buckeyes will return the courtesy in Tuscaloosa on September 9, 2028.