This college football season has been anything but normal. With College Football Playoff mainstays like Clemson, Ohio State, and Oklahoma not even reaching their conference championship games, college football fans knew that the Playoff would probably look different this year. Even Alabama was at risk of not making it to the College Football Playoff before they took down the undefeated, number one ranked Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship game, locking in a trip to the CFP for the seventh time in eight years. Alabama was the underdog in this game for the first time in 93 games, but the College Football Playoff was not about to crown a national champion without having the Crimson Tide in the mix. There are still three fairly unfamiliar faces in the CFP this year with number two Michigan, number three Georgia, and number four Cincinnati. Georgia has made the Playoff one time before, but both Michigan and Cincinnati are in for the first time. All four of these teams are clearly very talented, making it to the top four and having the opportunity to play for a national championship, but which team will come out on top?

The matchup between the one and four seed Alabama and Cincinnati is an interesting one. Alabama has had an interesting season, playing a few games that ended up being closer than expected towards the end of the regular season, then coming out and pretty much dominating an undefeated Georgia Bulldogs team in the SEC Championship. After the huge win against Georgia, Alabama enters the College Football Playoff as the number one seed and the favorite to win their seventh national championship under head coach Nick Saban. If the Crimson Tide is able to pull it off, Nick Saban will break his tie with legendary coach Paul “Bear” Bryant for the most titles won at Alabama. The Cincinnati Bearcats have also had an eventful season. They ended up being the only FBS team to finish the season undefeated after winning the American Athletic Conference Championship. They’ll become the first team from a non-Power Five conference to appear in the playoff. Both the Crimson Tide and the Bearcats feature a high-powered offensive passing attack. Bryce Young, quarterback for Alabama, and Desmond Ridder, quarterback for Cincinnati are two of the best quarterbacks in the country. Young is a Heisman finalist and Ridder has been named the AAC Offensive Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons. It’ll be fun to see if the Crimson Tide can withstand the upset, or if the Bearcats will shock everyone and move onto the national championship game. 

Number two Michigan and number three Georgia is the other matchup in the College Football Playoff this year. Michigan has been one of the biggest surprises of the season. The Wolverine’s efforts this season have restored Jim Harbaugh’s reputation as one of the better coaches in the country. After rebuilding his coaching staff and taking a pay cut over the offseason, Harbaugh led his team to the Big Ten championship after taking down their rival Ohio State for the first time in a decade. This season is Michigan’s first twelve-win season since 1997 and their first conference title since 2004. The Georgia Bulldogs have had a relatively dominant season until they met up with their rival, the Alabama Crimson Tide. Since their loss against the Tide, there has been a lot of questioning of the Bulldogs’ legitimacy. Georgia didn’t necessarily have the toughest schedule this season, so it’s tough to tell whether they were really the best team in the country all year, or if they were just that much better than the mediocre teams they played. Of course, the SEC Championship could have just been a tough game for Georgia, but only time will tell if the Bulldogs are a championship-level team this year.