The College Football Playoff National Championship game kicks off on Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, and the matchup between Alabama and Georgia holds a little bit of significance amongst swimming fans.
With the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs competing in the championship game, it marks just the third time in the eight-year history of the CFP national championship that the two teams playing in the final both sponsor a men’s and women’s swimming and diving program.
The CFP’s first national championship came in the 2014 season (Jan. 2015), following what was previously the BCS National Championship game, and the first time the matchup featured schools that sponsored a men’s and women’s swimming and diving program came in the 2017 championship in Jan. 2018.
That matchup featured the same two teams as this year, Alabama vs Georgia, when the Crimson Tide downed the Bulldogs by a score of 26-23, in Atlanta, no less.
Last year was the second time both teams sponsored swimming and diving programs, as Alabama roared to a 52-24 victory over Ohio State in Miami Gardens, Florida.
The Crimson Tide and coach Nick Saban enter the 2021 championship game looking for their fourth national title in the last seven years, having also won against Clemson in 2015.
Both teams are 13-1 on the season, and Alabama holds the No. 1 ranking (to Georgia’s No. 3), plus the Crimson Tide picked up a 41-24 victory over the Bulldogs in the SEC Championship game on Dec. 4. Nonetheless, Georgia comes in as the betting favorite.
Going back to the BCS National Championship Game days, which ran from 1998 until 2013, the game’s winner was a swimming & diving-sponsoring school (both men and women) in all but two years, including Alabama winning back-to-back in 2011 and 2012 and FSU topping Auburn in 2013.
With the Alabama vs Georgia dual meet that was scheduled for Saturday being canceled due to COVID-19, perhaps swimming fans will place a keen eye on this game to show off their school pride.
🏆 Can’t wait to cheer on @GeorgiaFootball tonight in the CFP #NationalChampionship!#GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/md9ZttNh4d
— Georgia Swim & Dive (@UGASwimDive) January 10, 2022
Roll Tide it’s Gameday! @AlabamaFTBL faces Georgia tonight in the #NationalChampionship in Indianapolis!
🕖 7 PM/CT
📍 Lucas Oil Stadium
📺 ESPN#RollTide #BamaGameday pic.twitter.com/GG43aIavFV— Alabama Athletics 🥋 (@UA_Athletics) January 10, 2022
Who are you cheering for?
College Swimming/SwimCloud meet “swimulator”:
Alabama 187, Georgia 113 (men)
Alabama 184, Georgia 116 (women)
AVERAGE: Alabama 185.5, Georgia 114.5
Football is a running sport. Running is approximately 4x faster than swimming based on 100m dash times vs. 100yd free times.
Therefore, divide by 4.
Final score:
Alabama 46, Georgia 29
Prove me wrong using MATH.
Fun fact: 46-29 is a final score that has never happened in an NFL game but HAS happened in a CFB game
Sources:
https://nflscorigami.com/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Jon_Bois/comments/qks3kq/i_made_a_college_football_scorigami_board/
well this didn’t age well!
Go Bama tonight!
The football money coming in definitely benefits all the athletes. The athletic dining hall, and weight room, that football, swimming and all the athletes utilize, rival any in the nation.
The athletic department more than funds itself at Bama, of course a result of football, with a new outdoor pool, new looker rooms, new team room, and remodeled 50 meter pool, all paid for.
I always root against a school that has cut their swim team. Cut a swim team? I hope you lose forever.
I hope Clemson and Oklahoma never sniff a semifinal game again until they add swimming.
Unfortunately the timing of Clemson cutting their swim team and becoming a football powerhouse doesn’t help.
Those Football teams sure help their swim teams.
The athletic department doesn’t just cut a check to the swim program, but as RTR mentioned below, the Alabama swim team (and all Alabama sports programs) benefits greatly from football’s success with the resources and amenities that have been built and established since Saban turned the football program around and started winning
Directly? Probably none. But indirectly these football programs help pay for all the amenities and benefits the swimmers get.