ARLINGTON, Texas - Brian Robinson Jr. grew up near the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa, watching the Crimson Tide win championships and wanting to play a big part in one.
With the fifth-year senior and first-year featured back running for a career-high 204 yards and Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young throwing three touchdown passes, the top-ranked Tide earned the chance to play for yet another national title with a 27-6 victory over No. 4 Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl, the first of Friday's College Football Playoff semifinals.
It was a bitter finish for the Bearcats (13-1), who had already made history as the first team from outside the Power Five ranks to reach the CFP, which debuted in the 2014 season. They were physically overwhelmed on the big stage.
"B-Rob was huge for us all night," Young said. "Making that first guy miss, falling forward fighting for those extra yards. He was a constant."
Alabama (13-1) has missed the playoff only once and will now try to win its second national title in a row and fourth in the eight seasons of the CFP format.
The Tide will play No. 3 Georgia (13-1) - which Alabama beat in the Southeastern Conference title game in Atlanta in early December - in the national title game Jan. 10 in Indianapolis. Georgia won 34-11 against No. 2 Michigan in the Orange Bowl later Friday.
"As a young kid, just always wanted to be a part of this program. Just always wanted to play for a national championship," Robinson said. "Just being able to go out there and just lead this team in this big game on this big stage ... it's like a dream come true."
Alabama clearly was doing what it could to minimize the impact of standout Cincinnati cornerbacks Coby Bryant and Ahmad Gardner. That mission largely succeeded, with Robinson carrying the ball 26 times and Young throwing a lot of short, safe passes - though he did hit Ja'Core Brooks for a 44-yard touchdown on a play away from the standout defenders for a 17-3 lead just before halftime.
"I'm really, really proud of our team, our players. I think they showed great competitive character out there," said Nick Saban, who is in his 15th season as Alabama's coach and is seeking a seventh national title with the Tide and eighth overall after winning his first with LSU in the 2003 season.
The Tide went 13-0 last season, but this year's team had to shake off a 41-38 loss at unranked Texas A&M in early October. Alabama was also the underdog going into the Southeastern Conference championship game, where it handed Georgia its first loss of the season with a dominant 41-24 victory in Atlanta.
"Guys showed a lot of resiliency all year," Saban said Friday, "to be able to have the opportunity to get to this game."
The Tide opened it with 10 consecutive runs - Robinson had the first four and six overall on the drive as he rushed for 37 yards during the possession - before putting three receivers opposite of Gardner, who hasn't given up a touchdown in coverage in his college career. Young found Slade Bolden open in the left flat for an 8-yard pass that provided the game's first points and put Alabama ahead to stay.
Going into the Cotton Bowl, the Tide had rushed for 147.6 yards per game, their lowest average in Saban's tenure. They ran for 301 yards Friday, with Trey Sanders supporting Robinson's charge by totaling 67 yards on 14 carries.
Cincinnati was the nation's only undefeated team until facing Alabama, the standard bearer of the CFP.
"Obviously, this is gut-wrenching and really, really difficult for everybody," coach Luke Fickell said of his Bearcats, "but most importantly for the 30 or so seniors that have brought this program and this team so far."
One of those was Desmond Ridder, the dynamic quarterback and NFL prospect who returned for a final college season for this championship chance. At AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, he was sacked six times - and outside of a 9-yard run on the opening play of the second half, he never got to hurt Bama with his feet. He was 17-of-32 passing for 144 yards.
"It's one thing to sit there and watch on film, and to sit there and draw the twists and stunts they do on the board and work it through practice," said Ridder, who led the program to back-to-back American Athletic Conference titles as an upperclassman. "It's another thing to come down here and play it on a big stage."
Young, a 20-year-old sophomore, has a chance to become the fifth Alabama quarterback in 13 seasons to win a national title as a first-year starter. He was 17-of-28 passing for 181 yards in the playoff game, four weeks after setting an SEC championship game record with 421 passing yards against Georgia and three weeks after being the program's first quarterback to win a Heisman Trophy.
His only interception Friday came late in the third quarter, when he overthrew All-America receiver Jameson Williams in a crowd of defenders and the pass was picked off by Bryan Cook on the logo at midfield. Williams caught the other seven passes thrown his way for 62 yards, with his longest catch for 20 yards.
After Cook's interception, the Bearcats went three-and-out for the fifth time in the game, with Ridder sacked for a 10-yard loss on third down.
Cincinnati's breakthrough into the playoff was bolstered by a win the first Saturday of October at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish, who lost 31-14 to Alabama in a Rose Bowl semifinal played at AT&T Stadium last New Year's Day, didn't lose another game this season and finished fifth in the final CFP rankings behind the history-making Bearcats.
In the Cotton Bowl, the Bearcats had a season-low 218 total yards and were held without a touchdown for the first time since a 42-0 loss at Ohio State in the second game of the 2019 season, the last time they had played a top-five team.
"We knew the battle in the trenches was going to be a big deal, and that's kind of where the game was won," Fickell said. "In no phase of it did we give ourselves an opportunity."
This was only the second loss in two seasons for the Bearcats, with both setbacks coming in their final games. They lost 24-21 to Georgia on a last-second field goal in the Peach Bowl last New Year's Day.