Final exams for college football will take place on Monday, January 9th. Following action from December 31st, the participants in the game are now known. The Alabama Crimson Tide rolled to a 24-7 victory over the Washington Huskies earlier in the day while the Clemson Tigers defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes late on Saturday (final score: 31-0). Those are the two surviving teams in NCAA college football and they will meey Monday night for fans of the sport next week, even after the NFL's version of it shuts down for the season.
Rematch of last year's game
The two teams that will play in next Monday's final are the exact two teams that were in the final last season with the exact same coaches. Nick Saban will be going for his record-tying 6th national title while Dabo Swinney will be going for his first. That they are repeat finalists makes the match-up for the final game unsurprising. That these are the two teams that were considered the favorites in college football outright during the pre-season makes the match-up even less surprising (BetSwot/August 6th). According to notes I wrote for a BetSwot article back in the summer, Clemson was 9/1 (Paddy Power) back in early August while Alabama was priced at 7/1.
Game time and venue for the final
Game time on January 9th is 8pm ET with the venue Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Between now and then there are some other bowl games to watch. Furthermore, football fans in the USA will no doubt be paying close attention to Sunday's Week 17 action in the NFL as there are many games to be played that still have playoff implications, especially Sunday night's game between Detroit and Green Bay.
Week 17 will be followed by four Wild Card Weekend games as teams try to make it to the divisional round.
The Crimson Tide are near certain to be the betting favorites when odds are provided for the one-game showdown. They improved to 14-0 with their victory over Washington on Saturday. Clemson, after squarely beating Ohio State, improved to 13-1.
