The Crimson Tide will face the winner of the other semifinal game, between Georgia and Michigan, on Jan. 10 for the national championship.
This was the moment the Cincinnati Bearcats had pined for all season. The roster is chock-full of local kids, overlooked by Ohio State in high school and largely underestimated now by the football elite, who put their place in the College Football Playoff down to a matter of necessity: the sport needed a fourth team in the field. The Bearcats had dreamed so hard about a stage like this that some admitted their jaws might drop when they walked for the first time into Jerry World, as the cavernous Texas-sized N.F.L. stadium here is colloquially known. As the team’s five buses pulled up, players held up their phones to the windows to record the moment. If the Bearcats, determined and full of pluck, took memories away from their turn under the bright lights, they also got a up-close lesson that the rest of the college football has long ago learned: that Alabama remains the standard for the rest of the sport. The Crimson Tide were far from perfect in their 27-6 win — certainly not as fearsome as the team that ripped through Ohio State in last season’s championship game — yet they proved resourceful and showed a keen ability to rise to meet the game’s most critical moments as they pulled away. After quarterback Bryce Young had eviscerated Georgia’s defense in the Southeastern Conference championship game, which stamped his Heisman Trophy candidacy, Alabama instead leaned on oft-overlooked player: tailback Brian Robinson Jr., who carried 26 times for 204 yards. Robinson’s workhorse afternoon was the perfect complement for the Alabama defense, which shackled Cincinnati’s running attack — anchored by the Alabama transfer Jerome Ford — and harassed quarterback Desmond Ridder. Alabama (13-1) will play the winner of Friday night’s other semifinal between No.2 Michigan and No.3 Georgia in the Orange Bowl near Miami. The finalists will meet on Jan.10 in Indianapolis. Alabama is trying to claim its seventh national championship since 2009, while Cincinnati was trying to justify that it belonged on the same field. The Bearcats (13-1) were also carrying the banner for schools outside the so-called Power 5 conferences — the Southeastern, Big Ten, Big 12, Atlantic Coast and Pacific-12 — and the independent Notre Dame.
