2020–21 College Football Playoff

The 2020–21 College Football Playoff was a single-elimination postseason tournament that determined the national champion of the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the seventh edition of the College Football Playoff (CFP) and involved the top four teams in the country as ranked by the College Football Playoff poll playing in two semifinals, with the winners of each advancing to the national championship game. Three of the four teams were champions of their respective conferences: No. 1 Alabama from the Southeastern Conference, No. 2 Clemson from the Atlantic Coast Conference, and No. 3 Ohio State from the Big Ten Conference. The final participant, No. 4 Notre Dame, was an FBS independent.

The playoff bracket's semifinal games were held at the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day, part of the season's slate of bowl games. The Rose Bowl semifinal, held in Arlington, Texas, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, saw Alabama defeat Notre Dame, 31–14. It was the first Rose Bowl held away from Pasadena, California, since 1942. The second semifinal, at the Sugar Bowl, matched Clemson and Ohio State in a rematch of the previous season's semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl. After losing the previous matchup, Ohio State defeated Clemson by a twenty-one-point margin. Following their wins, Alabama and Ohio State advanced to the national championship game, held on January 11 in Miami Gardens, Florida. A rematch of the CFP semifinal at the 2015 Sugar Bowl, the Crimson Tide defeated the Buckeyes, 52–24, to win their third CFP national championship and their eighteenth claimed national championship in school history.

The 2020–21 CFP selection committee was chaired by Iowa athletic director Gary Barta. Its other members were former The Arizona Republic reporter Paola Boivin, Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman, Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione, Colorado athletic director Rick George, former head coach Ken Hatfield, former NFL player Ronnie Lott, Arkansas State athletic director Terry Mohajir, USA Football chairman and former Army chief of staff Ray Odierno, former Texas A&M athletic director R. C. Slocum, Georgia Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury, Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin, and mathematician and former NFL player John Urschel.^[1]

Due to the far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, each school and conference operated under a different policy for playing games.^[2][3] The first rankings of the season were released on November 24, 2020; Alabama from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) debuted at No. 1, with conference-mates Texas A&M and Florida at Nos. 5 and 6. Notre Dame and Clemson, both representing the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC),^[a] were ranked second and third, and Ohio State from the Big Ten Conference debuted fourth.^[5] The following weekend, No. 2 Notre Dame held off No. 17 North Carolina by fourteen points in Chapel Hill to avoid the upset;^[6] No. 15 Oregon and No. 8 Northwestern were unable to do the same as they suffered losses to Oregon State and Michigan State, respectively.^[7][8] The top seven remained unchanged in the following rankings,^[9] and each of the top six teams won their next games by an average margin of 27 points.^[10] Upsets did occur, though: No. 22 Coastal Carolina defeated No. 17 BYU in the "Mormons vs. Mullets" game,^[11][12] and unranked TCU upset No. 15 Oklahoma State.^[13] Again, the top of the rankings remained unchanged at the December 8 release.^[10] A loss by No. 6 Florida to LSU the following Saturday ended the Gators' playoff hopes, according to Sam Cooper of Yahoo! Sports;^[14] that game featured an incident in which Florida's Marco Wilson was penalized for throwing an LSU player's shoe after the play, thereby allowing the Tigers to continue the drive that ended with the game-winning field goal.^[15] That week was also of note because the Michigan–Ohio State game was not played; Michigan canceled the game due to COVID-19 issues, making 2020 the first season since 1917 during which the teams did not play.^[16]

Conference championships were played the following week; leading into the weekend, Iowa State of the Big 12 Conference replaced Florida at the No. 6 spot in the rankings amidst an unchanged top five.^[17] The Pac-12 championship was originally supposed to feature Washington and No. 13 USC, though Washington dropped out of the game due to COVID-19-related personnel shortages several days beforehand.^[18] As a result, Oregon filled in as the North Division's representative in Washington's place; ultimately, Oregon defeated USC by seven points to win the conference title.^[19] Alabama secured their CFP spot with a six-point win over No. 7 Florida in the SEC championship; Matt Zenitz of AL.com wrote that the win ensured Alabama would be seeded No. 1.^[20] Meanwhile, No. 3 Clemson defeated No. 2 Notre Dame to win the ACC championship^[21][a] and No. 4 Ohio State won the Big Ten championship over No. 14 Northwestern.^[22] Iowa State fell to No. 10 Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship, a result that ensured neither team would make the playoff, according to Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman.^[23] Additionally, No. 9 Cincinnati defeated No. 23 Tulsa to win the American championship to continue their undefeated season; Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell wanted his team to be considered for the playoffs.^[24] Though the team was generally expected to miss the playoffs, they were nearly guaranteed a New Year's Six bowl berth.^[25] The oddities of the COVID-impacted schedule meant that several regular season games were played during conference championship week as well—among them was a win by No. 5 Texas A&M over Tennessee. This win brought Texas A&M to 8–1, the only loss coming to No. 1 Alabama, meaning the Aggies were widely viewed as being in contention for a CFP berth.^[26]

The College Football Playoff matchups, along with the rest of the final CFP rankings, were released by the selection committee on December 20, 2020. Alabama maintained its No. 1 spot and Ohio State rose to No. 3 following each teams' respective conference title victory; Clemson similarly rose to No. 2 while Notre Dame, the ACC runners-up, slid to No. 4 but still made the playoff. Texas A&M and Big 12 champions Oklahoma were the first two teams out of the field at Nos. 5 and 6, respectively. The bracket was set with pairings of No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Notre Dame in the Rose Bowl semifinal along with No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl semifinal.^[27] The inclusion of Ohio State drew criticism from some due to their shorter schedule,^[28] and similar criticism arose from the exclusion of Texas A&M, mostly on the basis of strength of schedule.^[27] Instead, the Aggies, ranked fifth in the final CFP poll, were assigned to the Orange Bowl against No. 13 North Carolina. The other New Year's Six bowl assignments included No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 7 Florida in the Cotton Bowl Classic, No. 25 Oregon vs. No. 10 Iowa State in the Fiesta Bowl, and No. 8 Cincinnati facing No. 9 Georgia in the Peach Bowl.^[29]

Key:  Team increased ranking from previous week   Team decreased ranking from previous week   Team selected to College Football Playoff 

The Rose Bowl semifinal marked the eighth meeting between Alabama and Notre Dame; the Irish entered with a 5–2 series lead. The teams had last met in the 2013 BCS National Championship Game, a 28-point Alabama win.^[30] As a result of California COVID-19 policies, the game was played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, instead of at the Rose Bowl.^[31]

Clemson and Ohio State met for the third time in CFP history and the fifth time ever in the Sugar Bowl semifinal. Clemson had won all four of the teams' previous meetings, including CFP semifinal matchups at the 2016 Fiesta Bowl and the 2019 Fiesta Bowl.^[32]

The championship victory marked Alabama's third CFP championship^[33] and their eighteenth national title in school history.^[34] It was the seventh for Alabama head coach Nick Saban, giving him the record over Bear Bryant, with whom he had been tied on six championships apiece.^[35] It was the least-watched national championship since the introduction of the Bowl Championship Series in 1998 with a total viewership of 18.7 million. Both semifinal games outperformed the championship in terms of viewership: the Ohio State–Clemson semifinal had 19.1 million viewers, just ahead of the 18.9 million who watched Alabama–Notre Dame.^[36]

The championship game was the last at Alabama for offensive coordinator Steve Sarkesian, who left to take the head coaching job at Texas following the season.^[35] Sarkesian returned to the CFP with the Longhorns in 2023–24 and 2024–25.^[37]