Kick off with music, more

The College Football Playoff National Championship is more than just the game. It’s a total experience. Today caps three days of downtown fun. As fans root for their favorite teams (ahem, Go Bulldogs!), here are a few events besides kickoff that will put

The College Football Playoff National Championship is more than just the game. It’s a total experience. Today caps three days of downtown fun. As fans root for their favorite teams (ahem, Go Bulldogs!), here are a few events besides kickoff that will put fans in the game-day spirit.

Playoff Fan Central

Enjoy a final day of playoff family fun, featuring pep rallies, exhibits, autograph signings, games and more.

10 a.m.-6 p.m. today. Free. Georgia World Congress Center, Building A, 285 Andrew Young International Blvd. NW, Atlanta. Championship Tailgate Plaza This outdoor experience features zip lining and free-fall stunt jumps for adventurous tailgaters.

Opens 10 a.m., ongoing, today. Free. International Plaza between Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Georgia World Congress Center, 1414 Andrew Young International Blvd. NW, Atlanta.

Twelve days later, he was the Alabama coach.

Winner: UGA. All roads to this year’s national championship run through Atlanta. One guess which coach will be able to find Georgia and stay there long enough to actually win the thing.

Mascots

UGA: Georgia’s English bulldog, Uga, has long been a college football favorite. It was recently voted by USA Today as the best mascot in the sport.

The white English bulldog was the first of a long line of canines that have served as the beloved four-legged embodiment of Georgia sports. Today, Uga X reigns over a Bulldogs team chasing its first national title since 1980. The line of pure white English bulldogs has been owned by the Frank W. “Sonny” Seiler family of Savannah since Uga I first graced the campus in the 1950s. Uga has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated and even starred in the best-selling book (and then a movie) “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”

Alabama: Meanwhile, Big Al is the costumed elephant mascot of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa. So what’s the connection between the Crimson Tide and the elephants painted on the floor?

According to Alabama’s website, the association goes back to the 1930 season, to a story written by Everett Strupper of The Atlanta Journal. Strupper’s story describes the power of the Alabama team and mentions an excited fan bellowing, “Hold your horses, the elephants are coming.”

Strupper and other writers

continued to refer to the Alabama linemen as “Red Elephants,” the color referring to the crimson jerseys.

Back in the 1930s and 1940s, Alabama borrowed an elephant from a zoo for several homecoming events at the stadium.

Otherwise, Alabama sticks to a costumed elephant. Don’t expect to see any live elephants at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Meanwhile, Uga

X will be there in the flesh and fur.

Winner: Uga, not even close.

GPAs

The average high school GPA of freshmen at the University of Alabama is 3.72. That makes the university competitive, and you’ll need a mix of A’s and B’s, with more A’s than B’s to gain admission.

Still, Alabama is not as competitive as UGA, which boasts an average high school GPA for freshmen of 4.0.

Winner: UGA, obviously.

Football comparison

In a look at this year’s seasons, Georgia has the edge on total offensive yards (6,164) over Alabama (5,846) and number of rushing yards (3,743) to Alabama (3,325), but Alabama takes the lead with average points per game with 37.9 to Georgia’s 36.3, and a lead in passing yards of 2,521 to Georgia’s 2,421.

In the end, Georgia and Alabama are two terrific football programs. With the Bulldogs’ talented running backs, and Alabama’s dominating defense, these two programs with storied histories in the sport set the stage for a special SEC matchup right here in Atlanta.

Winner: We’ll see, but I think you get the pattern here.

GETTY IMAGES TOP: Kendrick Lamar will perform at the halftime show in Centennial Olympic Park. ABOVE LEFT: Darius Rucker will perform during the pre-game show. ABOVE RIGHT: Singer-songwriter Brett Young is also scheduled to play the pre-game show.

BOB ANDRES PHOTOS / BANDRES@AJC.COM Georgia Bulldogs running back Sony Michel (1) holds the Rose Bowl trophy next to linebacker Roquan Smith (3) and coach Kirby Smart after the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif.

Michel scores the winning touchdown in overtime at the College Football Playoff Semifinal.

Georgia Bulldogs linebacker Daniel Harper (47) and wide receiver Terry Godwin (5) celebrate with a game edition of the AJC after Georgia won at the Rose Bowl.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart leads the team off the team buses as the Bulldogs arrive for the game.