Will the next BCS national champion be the top-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish or will the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide, the defending national champions, pick up its third national championship title in the past four years?
We'll find out tonight. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. CST on ESPN.
Here are five things to know about this year's BCS matchup:
- Notre Dame has not won a championship in 24 years, its last coming in 1988. Alabama is the defending national champion and will become the first team to win back-to-back BCS titles if the Tide wins Monday night.
- Tonight's BCS game will be the first meeting between the Tide and Irish since 1987. The teams have played each other six times, with Notre Dame holding a 5-1 edge.
- Notre Dame has produced seven Heisman Trophy winners, Alabama has produced one -- Mark Ingram in 2009.
- If Alabama wins, it will be the seventh consecutive national championship for the SEC -- no other conference has ever won more than three consecutive titles.
- More than 72,000 fans are expected to watch tonight's title game in person. As of Jan. 6, there were about 4,200 tickets remaining, the cheapest of which was listed in the $900 price range.
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