2017 College Football Playoff National Championship Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		2.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

2017 College Football Playoff National Championship Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 14, 2019

While the DVD format is home to all kinds of sport-related releases, Blu-ray has never really caught on as a home for full-length games conveniently assembled in a single package. Or, maybe better said, Blu-ray's days as something of a kinda-sorta home for sports has all but dried up to the most essential of releases. There's still an annual World Series collection and various programs related to the NFL, NBA, and NHL, but not any full-game releases for those last three sports, at least nothing that releases on a regular basis. Team Marketing, the production company behind this release, once upon a time released the 2015 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the 2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl, the 2015 Northwestern Mutual Rose Bowl, the 2016 BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl, and the 2016 Goodyear Cotton Bowl. But such releases have since dried up in favor of releasing only the National Championship game. Even the venerable WWE releases have all but disappeared. Whether production costs, a lack of sales, or a legitimate lack of interest (probably a combination of all three), full sporting events on Blu-ray are very few and even further between. But Clemson fans can at least relieve the team's thrilling 2017 national championship game victory, uninterrupted, in a decent Blu-ray release that regurgitates the game in high definition, albeit at a resolution of 720p.

Clemson fans have had it good these past few years. Since the playoff system was adopted for the 2014 season, the Tigers have appeared in three of the five title games, won it twice, and faced the Alabama Crimson Tide each and every time. The Tigers won the title for the 2016 season (game played on January 9, 2017), which is the subject of this release. Clemson also picked up the win in the 2018 season game (played on January 7, 2019) but dropped the 2015 season ending game (played on January 11, 2016) to Alabama. The 2018 season win was a blowout for the Tigers, a 44-16 rout that started close but saw Clemson quickly pull away. The team's loss to Alabama at the end of the 2016 season was a nail biter packed with action, with the teams trading scores ultimately ending in a 45-40 'Bama win. This game was to be another instant classic, arguably the best of the three matchups with Clemson pulling out the victory in the final seconds.

Alabama jumped out to leads of 7-0 in the first quarter and 14-0 in the second. The Tigers would cut that lead in half on a Deshaun Watson touchdown run. Alabama would add three to their lead with a field goal early in the third. Clemson would respond with a passing touchdown to trim the lead to three, but Alabama would quickly regain those lost points to maintain a 24-14 lead and a national championship in sight. But Clemson would find the end zone, and often, in the fourth. Deshaun Watson's touchdown pass just three plays into the quarter would cut 'Bama's lead to three. With only a few minutes left on the clock, Clemson took the lead for the first time in the game on a short yardage rush by Wayne Gallman. But the resilient Tide would overcome a third and long and a fourth and short to score another touchdown and take a 31-28 lead. Clemson would march down the field, on the back of a long completion and a pass interference call to give the team the ball at the two yard line with seconds to go. With a single tick left on the clock, Deshaun Watson found Hunter Renfrow in the end zone to give Clemson the lead, and a National Championship.

This is the game broadcast and the game broadcast only (mostly) as it was seen on ESPN. Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit call the action up in the booth. There are some obvious cuts beyond removing commercials. The action jumps here and there, not during play, but viewers will note some jarring transitions that will leave them wondering what was happening when the action moves forward. Watch after Alabama's first punt. Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit are introducing Deshaun Watson and the comments simply cut out suddenly and the program moves to the next play. It's disappointing that Team Marketing couldn't just add everything as it aired, but all of the plays are here, anyway. The trophy presentation is tacked on to the end of the release, which might be considered a "supplement."

2017 College Football Playoff National Championship Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

2017 College Football Playoff National Championship is presented at its broadcast original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and at a resolution of 720p; don't look for a 1080i or 1080p presentation because it's simply not here. And this is, unsurprisingly, not a reference quality presentation. Macroblocking artifacts are plentiful, which is a shame because one expects to see them on television, not on Blu-ray. But backgrounds are regularly chunky and indistinct. Textural qualities are not great, but they are acceptable. The 720p resolution delivers adequate detailing, offering sufficient overall clarity but struggling to deliver anything resembling crisp, firm details, whether on the field, amongst the fans, or on the players. Even in close-up, basic textural qualities on jerseys and helmets are decent but lacking anything approaching exemplary. Colors are passably well saturated and realistic. Alabama red, Clemson orange, and the green turf are the obvious highlights, and while the Blu-ray isn't precise, each basic shade is conveyed with good essential contrast and depth. Ringing artifacts and less-than-sharp on-screen graphics are commonplace. The presentation is watchable, but don't expect to see any major, or really even minor, upgrades over a basic OTA television presentation that fans saw back in January 2017.

2017 College Football Playoff National Championship Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The program's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack accomplishes nothing of sonic interest beyond capably, and simplistically, presenting the program's sonic needs. The most obvious audio element is the Fowler/Herbstreit in-game commentary. There's no sense of authentic fidelity. Listeners won't feel like they are sitting in the booth with the commentators, but the Blu-ray is at least not a downgrade from the OTA broadcast sounds; it's just not an upgrade in quality of presentation, either. Crowd cheers fall behind the well prioritized commentary, but definition is lacking; the collective din struggles to offer anything approaching "real," sounding more like a sharp swarm of bees or something very indistinct that's identifiable for what it is more through context clues and less through genuine clarity of reproduction. Whistles, PA announcements, hits on the field, and other in-game sounds all fall under the play-by-play and color commentary. Again, clarity is nothing special but the total add to the general atmosphere nicely fills in some of the sonic essentials.

2017 College Football Playoff National Championship Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The main menu screen offers users the opportunity to play the entire game, select any one of the four quarters, or jump directly to the trophy presentation, which comprises the final ten minutes of the program's 153 minute runtime. There are no extras. The release does ship with a DVD copy of the program, but no digital code is included. It also does not ship with a slipcover. It's worth noting that, as is the case with all Team Marketing releases, this release ships in a DVD case rather than a Blu-ray case.

2017 College Football Playoff National Championship Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The college football playoff system may be imperfect, but it's resulted in a much more balanced system that has given rise to several classic games, perhaps none so thrilling as this one. A late Clemson win in a familiar rivalry saw the Tigers get revenge for the previous season's loss to Alabama. Unfortunately, this Blu-ray does not live up to the quality of the game. Passable, but very imperfect, video and audio presentations are on offer. No extras are included, either. For die-hard Clemson and college football fans only, and only for those who are more interested in the game and less its Blu-ray technical merits.