College football will crown a champion on the second Monday of the year, same as it has throughout its recent history.
What hasn't been the same about this season compared to those past? Oh, just about everything else.
The programs that made this stage, the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes, are two teams that have title game aspirations year in and year out. In 2020, one program's conference spearheaded efforts to play this season during a global pandemic; the other program's conference almost didn't have a season at all.
That's how unorthodox this season — one without sellouts or bands or tailgates — has been.