RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
All right. College football fans, you have got one more game to look forward to, and it is the big one. It will be the Alabama Crimson Tide versus the Georgia Bulldogs with the national championship on the line. Both teams won in different styles yesterday. Alabama dominated Clemson while Georgia clawed to a double overtime win over Oklahoma. NPR's Scott Neuman has more.
SCOTT NEUMAN, BYLINE: In a hard-fought battle at the Rose Bowl, the Bulldogs finally eked out a 54-48 win against the Sooners in a second overtime, thanks in large part to impressive touchdown runs by senior running backs Sony Michel and Nick Chubb. Chubb ran for two touchdowns, including a 50 yarder. Michel's included a 75-yard run and this one that put Georgia over the top. Here's how it sounded on ESPN.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #1: Now it's Michel's turn, running all the way. Gets to the edge. Sony Michel will send the Dawgs home to the championship game.
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NEUMAN: At the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Alabama's defensive lineman Da'Ron Payne snatched an interception in the third quarter then got an unusual opportunity to re-enter the game on offense on Clemson's one-yard line.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #2: And guess who has come into the game? The guy who just had the interception, 300-pound defensive tackle Da'Ron Payne.
UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #3: Yeah. This is their goal line set.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #2: Pass to him. Oh, my. Storybook it for the big man.
NEUMAN: Alabama went on to win 24-6. The Crimson Tide will face the Georgia Bulldogs in the national championship game next Monday in Atlanta. Scott Neuman, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
