CFP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 3 Georgia
Monday, January 10, 2022 • 8 p.m. ET
Indianapolis, Ind. • Lucas Oil Stadium (70,000)
ESPN
Preview/Matchup: https://www.secsports.com/boxscore/football/401331242
THE TEAMS: Alabama (13-1, 7-1 SEC) is the SEC Champion and will face SEC runner-up (13-1, 8-0 SEC) in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. Alabama is looking is looking to win its seventh national championship since 2009 under Nick Saban, while Georgia is looking for its first national title since 1980.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: Alabama is the No. 1-ranked team in the College Football Playoff rankings, while Georgia is ranked No. 3 by the CFP. In the last two seasons, LSU and Alabama became the first No. 1-ranked teams in the CFP rankings to win the national championship in the College Football Playoff era.
SEC IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: This will mark the 15th time in the last 16 seasons, and 17th overall since 1998, a team from the SEC has advanced to the national championship game. Eleven times (12 after Monday night) since 2006 the SEC has won the college football national championship. Overall, the SEC has won 13 of the previous 23 national championship games since the 1998 season, while appearing in 16 prior to this season. This will mark the third consecutive national championship for the SEC, with three different programs appearing in the game the last three seasons.
TELEVISION: ESPN will televise the game nationally for the ninth straight year (Chris Fowler, Play-by-Play; Kirk Herbstreit, Analyst; Molly McGrath and Holly Rowe, Sidelines). ESPN has aired the game nationally since the 2011 BCS National Championship Game when Auburn defeated Oregon. ABC carried the game 1999-2006, and 2010, with Fox Sports owning broadcast rights in 2007-09.
RADIO: ESPN Radio will broadcast the game (ESPN Radio: Sean McDonough, Play-by-Play; Todd Blackledge, Analyst; Ian Fitzsimmons, Sidelines). The game is available on SiriusXM Channel 80, with the Georgia broadcast on Channel 81 and the Alabama broadcast airing on Channel 84. ESPN Radio has carried the game since 1999.
SERIES: This is the second time Alabama and Georgia have squared off in the CFP National Championship Game. Alabama won 26-23 in overtime in January 2018. The two teams met in Atlanta earlier this season for the SEC Championship on Dec. 4, and the Crimson Tide won 41-24. Alabama has won the last two meetings by the same score and has won the seven previous meetings overall in the series dating back to 2008. Georgia’s last win came in an overtime win in 2007, which was Nick Saban’s first season at Alabama.
SEC IN THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF: The SEC is 11-4 all-time in College Football Playoff games, now playing in seven of the eight CFP National Championship Games, while winning four (now five). The SEC is 9-1 in CFP Semifinals, and 11-3 overall in CFP games not versus each other. The SEC leads the nation with ten teams advancing to the Playoff since its inception in 2014. Three different programs (Alabama, Georgia, LSU) have made Playoff appearances in the SEC. The league also leads the nation in the CFP era with championship game appearances (9). The SEC is the only league that has placed at least one of its members in the College Football Playoff each season since its inception.