Winners and Losers of the 2020 National Championship Game

Last week's College Football Awards program was basically a showcase for Alabama's superstar-making football factory, and Monday night's College Football Playoff National Championship Game showed why in a 52-24 Crimson Tide win.The nation's top offense played pinball wizard against the Buckeyes, unleashing Heisman Trophy-winning receiver DeVonta Smith and his bevy of teammates who'll dot NFL rosters next year, building a big halftime lead and never looking back.The Buckeyes were depleted with coronavirus-related absences and beset by injuries, but it was obvious Alabama was the best team in the nation, as it showed all year.There were plenty of highlights and lowlights from Monday's action, so let's take a look at some of the title game's biggest winners and losers.Alabama was fortunate enough to have a Bear, but now it has the GOAT.With the Crimson Tide's win over Ohio State on Monday night, Nick Saban passed Paul "Bear" Bryant's six national titles with his seventh, giving him the most in the Associated Press era of college football.Remarkably, he's won seven national championships in the past 18 seasons, and all the other active head coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision have a combined six. The Buckeyes ran a few gimmick blitzes and got to Mac Jones, but they didn't put enough pressure on him.Though they played four linebackers much of the night in an attempt to take away running back Najee Harris, the star running back still got important yards and was a factor in the passing game, as well.When the Buckeyes had that type of personnel on the field, the Crimson Tide exploited it by passing all over the place. He was even more effective in the passing game with seven catches for 79 yards and another score.Jones etched his own name into Alabama lore, finishing 36-of-45 for 464 yards and five touchdowns.It would have been a flawless performance if not for the signal-caller's first-half fumble, but that was a small miscue on a night the Tide did little wrong.Battling the lingering effects of an injury suffered in the Clemson game, Justin Fields couldn't match the heroics he displayed in the semifinal victory over the Tigers.He didn't have enough help from his supporting cast, either.After Trey Sermon's early injury following a single carry, replacement Master Teague III did fine.