The 2021 Alabama Crimson Tide Looks to Make CFP History

The 2021 Alabama Crimson Tide hopes to become the first repeat national champions in the College Football Playoff era. To accomplish this, it will have to defeat SEC rival Georgia on Monday, Jan. 10, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

During the CFP era, there have been a few teams over its short seven-year history which have made it back to the championship after winning it all the year before, but none have repeated as national champions. These teams are 2016 Alabama, 2018 Alabama, and 2019 Clemson. The 2021 Alabama team looks to break this trend.

After going a perfect 13-0 in 2020 and claiming the National Championship in a dominant season that featured only one single-digit victory, the 2021 Crimson Tide struggled a bit more to make it back to the mountaintop, including a 41-38 last-second loss in College Station against Texas A&M. As well as this loss, Alabama escaped four games this season with single-digit victories, including a two-point win at Florida after the Gators failed a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter, and a come-from-behind 4OT win at Jordan-Hare Stadium against Auburn. Still, the Crimson Tide is 13-1 and back in the big dance.

The last team to win back-to-back national championships was, well, the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2011 and 2012. Both championship games ended up being blowouts too as the 2011 Alabama team defeated SEC West rival LSU 21-0 and the 2012 team defeated Notre Dame 42-14.

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Including the 2011 and 2012 Alabama teams, there have been 11 back-to-back national champions since the AP Poll era began in 1936. The other teams to have done this are

• Minnesota:1940-41
• Army: 1944-45
• Notre Dame: 1946-47
• Oklahoma: 1955-56 and 1974-75
• Alabama: 1964-65, 1978-79 and 2011-12
• Nebraska: 1970-71 and 1994-95
• USC: 2003-04

Alabama’s final test of the season will be against a Georgia team that the TIde has already bested 41-24 a little more than a month ago in the SEC Championship, resulting in the Crimson Tide stamping its ticket to the playoff as the No. 1 ranked team and ruining the Bulldog’s undefeated season. Both teams took down their opposition in the CFP semi-finals with relative ease, with Alabama rolling over then-undefeated Cincinnati 27-6 and Georgia knocking off Big Ten champion Michigan 34-11.

Just like in the SEC Championship, Alabama is the underdog again against Georgia as the Bulldogs are currently 2.5-point favorites over the Tide. The College Football Playoff National Championship will be aired at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN. The local Tide 100.9 FM broadcast features Eli Gold, John Parker Wilson and the rest of the Crimson Tide Sports Network crew. Digitally, through tide1009.com and the Tide 100.9 App, ESPN's crew of Sean McDonough, Todd Blackledge and Ian Fitzsimmons will have the call of the game.