For Alabama

“But in a competitive business like we’re in where there’s always a next challenge, there’s always a next game, there’s always a better team to play.”

The only downside — if there is one — to living under the Saban Standard is anything less than the best can seem like the worst. A second straight championship game loss after last season’s thriller against Clemson would mean “just” one national title for Saban and Alabama in the last five seasons. “That’s a career for most coaches, but for him it’s an abject failure,” longtime Alabama and national radio show host Paul Finebaum said.

FAST FACTS: Georgia’s Jake Fromm would become just the second true freshman quarterback to lead a team to a national championship, joining Jamelle Holieway of Oklahoma in 1985 .... This is the second time in the BCS/CFP era that the national title game will match two SEC teams. The last was LSU-Alabama in the 2011. —AP GETTY & AP

Monday night’s national championship pits the teacher against his student, as Bama’s Nick Saban and Georgia’s Kirby Smart battle for trophy after sharing Crimson Tide sideline (above) for years.