Alabama and Clemson meet Monday night in Tampa, Florida, in a highly-anticipated College Football Playoff National Championship rematch.
When these two teams met in Glendale, Arizona, last year, they gave us all an exciting game. Even if the final minutes didn't provide an incredible amount of drama, Clemson still put on an offensive performance against the Alabama defense that we just aren't used to seeing. Deshaun Watson accounted for 478 yards of offense and four touchdowns, but it just wasn't enough.
And now, these two forces meet again.
There's Alabama, a team which seems unstoppable and whose rise to yet another national title has seemed pre-destined for just about the entirety of the 2016 season. On the other side is the one team that has truly offered a real threat to Alabama's supremacy in in Clemson.
So will this sequel be any good? I don't know, but everybody's already bought their tickets and in their seats with a bucket of popcorn waiting to find out.
Viewing information
Date: Monday, Jan. 9
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Location: Raymond James Stadium -- Tampa, Florida
TV
ESPN: Traditional telecast (Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Samantha Ponder, Tom Rinaldi)
ESPN2: Homers Telecast (Joe Tessitore, Adam amin, Alabama's Barrett Jones, Clemson's Tajh Boyd)
ESPNNEWS: Coaches Film Room (Brian Griese, Dino Babers, Dave Doeren, Mike MacIntyre, Matt Rhule, Kalani Sitake)
ESPNU: ESPN Voices (Bill Walton, Keyshawn Johnson, Michelle Beadle, Jay Bilas, Rachel Nichols, Marcellus Wiley)
SEC Network: Finebaum Film Room (Paul Finebaum, Jim McElwain, Greg McIlroy, Booger McFarland)
ESPN Classic: Sounds of the Game (Amplified audio, no commentary)
ESPN Goal Line: Command Center (Split screen with multiple camera angles)
Live streams
Watch simulcasts of the above channels along with additional options including Mock Replay Booth, Home Town Radio, Data Center, Sky Cam, among others via WatchESPN.com or the WatchESPN apps.
Storylines
Clemson: I feel like the easy, cliche way to go about this would be to say that Clemson is out looking for revenge. That the Tigers are looking to avenge their loss to Alabama last year, and right a wrong. That's not how I see it, though.
To me, this isn't about revenge for Clemson, it's about Clemson staking its claim to greatness.
Nobody can question that Dabo Swinney has taken over this Clemson program and turned it into one of the nation's best, but no matter how good Clemson gets, nor how many ACC titles or playoff berths it manages to acquire, it's never going to be considered to be truly great without winning a national title.
So when I see Clemson getting ready to take on Alabama for national title once again, I don't see it as revenge. I see it as Clemson getting one more shot to get past the greatest obstacle that stands between it and greatness.
Clemson played a fantastic game against Alabama last season, but it wasn't enough. So now it knows what it takes to beat the crimson juggernaut, but can it pull it off? That's what we're going to find out.
Alabama: This isn't about legacy. It's not about proving anybody wrong. It's not about showing the world that your great. Nothing that happens in this game will affect Alabama's legacy as a college football program. It's already the most dominant program of our time, and it may even be the greatest in college football history.
Nobody doubts it, and everybody understands how good it is.
No, this game is about nothing more than continued dominance.
Alabama is inevitable. Alabama is unyielding. Alabama is looking to win its fifth national title in nine years. There's nothing more you need to say about it than that.