2018 CFP National Championship Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

2018 CFP National Championship Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 26, 2020

The Tide rolled yet again in the 2017 college football season. Nick Saban's squad fought to an 11-1 regular season record following a loss in the previous year's championship game to the Clemson Tigers. The team racked up big wins against Florida State, LSU, and Mississippi State to begin the season 11-0 and holding the #1 ranking in the nation. But Alabama lost to #6 Auburn 26-14 on the road to drop to 11-1 and fall to #4 in the national polls heading into the playoffs, chosen ahead of Ohio State in a somewhat controversial selection.

The Crimson Tide matched up with old rival Clemson in the semifinal Sugar Bowl game. The game was a defensive struggle to open but the Tide opened the scoring with an Andy Pappanastos field goal to take a 3-0 lead partway through the quarter. Alabama would add a touchdown on a Calvin Ridley catch to take a 10-0 lead into the second quarter. There was little action on either side of the ball in the quarter; both teams traded defensive stops and only a Clemson field goal altered the score to bring the Tigers to within seven at the half. A miscue early in the third quarter led to another Clemson field goal to cut Alabama's lead to 10-6. A Clemson turnover would lead to an Alabama touchdown to extend the Tide's lead to 17-6. A Mack Wilson interception for a touchdown furthered Alabama's lead to a commanding 24-6 score to end the third. With no further scoring in the fourth, Alabama secured the victory and punched a ticked to the National Championship game to face off against the third-seeded Georgia Bulldogs.

Georgia, coming off a terrific regular season that in some ways mirrored Alabama's, including a November 11 40-17 regular season loss to Auburn, defeated Auburn in the SEC Championship Game and squeaked by second seeded Oklahoma in a high scoring double overtime Rose Bowl thriller, 54-28, to reach the title game against Alabama. The game would remain scoreless through the first quarter with both teams trading defensive stops. In the second, Georgia opened the scoring with a pair of field goals to take a 6-0 lead, followed by a Mecole Hardman touchdown with time winding down in the half to take a solid, but certainly not comfortable, 13-0 lead into the locker room. To begins the second half, Alabama made a change at quarterback, dropping Jalen Hurts in favor of freshman Tua Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa's touchdown pass to Henry Ruggs III partway through the third put Alabama on the board, trailing now 13-7. But an 80 yard Jake Fromm bomb for a touchdown put a damper on Alabama's resurgence, lifting the Bulldogs' lead to 20-7. After Alabama and Georgia exchanged interceptions, the Tide marched down the field and scored three on a field goal to bring the score to 20-10. Another Alabama field goal would cut the Georgia lead back down to seven, and another Tua Tagovailoa touchdown pass would tie the game at 20 at the end of regulation. In the overtime period, Georgia kicker Rodrigo Blankenship would strike from 51 yards to give the Bulldogs a 23-20 lead. But on Alabama's possession Tagovailoa connected with DeVonta Smith on a 41-yard touchdown pass to secure a 26-23 win and another national championship for Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide.

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 rather often in the time in between plays during drives up and down the field. Viewers will note some jarring transitions that will leave them wondering what was happening when the action moves forward. It's basically a way to preserve core content while cutting down on some of the minutia. It's not a huge deal but it is worth noting. The trophy presentation is tacked on to the end of the release, which might be considered a "supplement." There is also a very brief pregame segment that includes the coin toss ceremony.

2018 CFP National Championship Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

These Team Marketing college football releases always offer iffy video to some degree, and 2018 CFP National Championship is no different. The image is absolutely acceptable in terms of crude content delivery, offering a relatively clear, sharp, focused image that essentially replicates the broadcast look on Blu-ray; it's truly just the ESPN broadcast edited down a bit and dropped onto Blu-ray at 720p. Viewers will appreciate the quality definition in close-up where uniform textures and patch and number density are nicely revealing. Helmets show wear and decals with ease. The field turf is suitably sharp as seen in the basic above-field shots. Colors show good pop, with the different red hues dominant on the team uniforms the standout tones, contrasting against a fairly bland green field. Overlaid graphics are sharp enough but look for ringing artifacts. The picture does show some compression related anomalies throughout; backgrounds are often sloppy but the foreground elements are sharp and clear enough.

2018 CFP National Championship Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

2018 CFP National Championship features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. The audio is often sloppy and mushy; there's precious little definition to the pyrotechnics to open the game, sounding just like a tinny flat blast of air with no power behind it. Crowd din is likewise less than ideally captured and reproduced; some of the more obvious chants are clear enough but the general din struggles to truly draw the listener into the environment or present with the sort of lifelike clarity that one would have heard in the stadium. Various football sounds on the field -- hits, mostly -- want for more depth and detail as well. On-field interviews, as well as the coin toss, find good foundational clarity and remain well prioritized. The same can be said of the in-booth play-by-play and color commentary; it's center imaged and adequately clear, not to mention mostly well prioritized above the sloppy crowd din.

2018 CFP 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 the overtime period, or jump directly to the celebration and trophy presentation, which comprise the final 12 minutes of the program's 150 minute runtime. There are no extras. The release does ship with a DVD copy of the program, but no digital code is included. It's worth noting that, as is the norm with Team Marketing releases, this release ships in a DVD case rather than a Blu-ray case. No slipcover is included.

2018 CFP National Championship Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

With the coming 2020 college football season in doubt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these Team Marketing releases might be the only way for some fans to catch some college ball in the coming months. This is a classic game, pairing two evenly matched teams and it was also the breakout game for Tua Tagovailoa whose surprise play in the second half spurred the Tide to victory. The Blu-ray is decent enough, featureless as it is but the video and audio presentations are acceptable if not essentially rehashes of the TV broadcast. For fans only.