SmashMouth

The dream season for LSU and quarterback Joe Burrow will end about 80 miles from campus in New Orleans, which will provide the ultimate home-field advantage. Clemson will try to spoil the party, win back-to-back national titles and further cement its claim as the nation's most dominant program.

After a longer-than-normal regular season and an earlier-than-normal set of semifinals, the College Football Playoff National Championship is set: Tigahs vs. Tigers, Coach O vs. Dabo, Burrow vs. Trevor Lawrence, Death Valley vs. Death Valley.

LSU aims for its first national title since the 2007 season, when it beat Ohio State in New Orleans.

Clemson returns to the site of its last loss -- to Alabama in the 2017 CFP semifinal at the Sugar Bowl -- and aims for its 30th consecutive win and a third championship in four seasons.

The only downside: We have to wait more than two weeks for kickoff.

Quarterback spotlight

Sometimes Heisman Trophy winners coast to the finish. Burrow continues to ascend, and his best might be yet to come. His record-setting season continued in the Peach Bowl, as he tossed seven touchdown passes, all in the first half, to set the CFP single-game record and the LSU bowl record. Burrow lit up Oklahoma for 493 pass yards, his third game of more than 470 yards this season. He has 17 passing touchdowns and no interceptions in his past four games.

Lawrence also evolved his game in the semifinal win over Ohio State, but he did so with his legs more than his arm. He led the team in both rushes (16) and yards (107), and he broke off a 67-yard scoring dash shortly before halftime, as Clemson stuck with a risk-reward plan to repeatedly run its quarterback. Lawrence also proved unshakable on the game-winning drive, leading Clemson 94 yards in only four plays and 78 seconds, and finding Travis Etienne for a 34-yard score. Although Burrow won all the awards this year, Lawrence has a national championship already on his résumé, and he won't flinch in the spotlight.

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