It's official.
Ohio State and Alabama will face each other on Jan. 11 in the College Football Playoff national championship.
The participants in the title game set to be held at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, became finalized late on Friday night. A few hours after the top-seeded Crimson Tide beat Notre Dame with ease, 31-14, in the Rose Bowl, the third-seeded Buckeyes took down second-seeded Clemson, 49-28, come out of the Sugar Bowl victorious.
In less than two weeks, they'll meet with everything on the line.
Not since the College Football Playoff semifinal on Jan. 1, 2015 have these two teams squared off. That game – played on the same field as the one on which Ohio State beat Clemson on Friday – featured Ezekiel Elliott's famous "85 Yards Through The Heart Of The South" run and was the first time the Buckeyes ever beat the SEC powerhouse. They're 1-3 all-time versus the Crimson Tide, having previously lost in 1978, 1968 and 1995.
Justin Fields, Trey Sermon and co. have a chance to beat Alabama in a week and a half in what will be their first matchup for a national title. Ohio State will be going after its ninth national championship following the hardware it brought back to Columbus in 1942, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 1970, 2002 and 2014.
"I really would love for these guys to have something at the end of the season, a big ring to show for everything they've done because they've sacrificed so much," head coach Ryan Day said earlier this week.
In 10 days, they'll meet Alabama with that big ring that Day referenced attainable.
