The 2019-20 college football season comes to a conclusion on Monday evening when No. 1 LSU meets third-ranked Clemson in the College Football Playoff National Championship (8 p.m. on ESPN).
But before the Tigers go to battle in New Orleans, we’ve decided to take a look back at the uniform matchups of five previous playoff title games and preview tonight’s matchup.
2015 – Ohio State 42, Oregon 20
Fourth-ranked Ohio State wore the home version of its 1968 throwback uniforms despite being the lower-ranked team, while No. 2 Oregon opted to wear a white and gray rendition of its apple green Rose Bowl set. Both uniforms featured a fractal diamond Swoosh on the jersey and pants, which has been a staple of the playoff since it’s inception.
2016 – Alabama 45, Clemson 40
In their first meeting in the College Football Playoff, No. 1 Clemson wore its orange jersey with orange britches against Alabama, which donned its standard road set as the nation’s second-ranked team.
2017 – Clemson 35, Alabama 31
Round two between Alabama and Clemson had both teams outfitted in the opposite uniforms of their first matchup, as the top-ranked Crimson Tide were in their standard home set while the Tigers wore white jerseys with orange britches as the No. 2 seed. This game also had the inverse result.
2018 – Alabama 26, Georgia 23 (OT)
Despite not winning its division — let alone its conference — Alabama returned to the national championship for the third straight season in 2018 as the No. 4 team in the country. The Tide faced SEC champion Georgia, which wore its home uniform by virtue of being the higher seed (3).
2019 – Clemson 44, Alabama 16
Aside from the change in venue, the national championship game between No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Clemson looked the exact same as their previous title game matchup. It was the same result, too.
2020 – LSU vs Clemson
In a bit of an interesting twist, both No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Clemson will don their home uniforms in tonight’s game. The Bayou Bengals typically wear white at home, which will allow the other Tigers to go with their all-orange getup.
In doing so, LSU actually received the 2020 College Football Playoff patch that is reserved for the team wearing a colored jersey. The Tigers will also wear said patch on their right shoulder, whereas every other national championship participant — including their opponent tonight — have worn it on the left.
One additional difference between this year’s national championship and those in the past is the lack of black end zones. That, too, has been a staple of the playoff staple but the Superdome’s grounds crew went a different direction for tonight’s game.
Photos via @LSUFBEquipment, @CFBPlayoff and @usatodaysports on Twitter.
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