2020 CFP National Championship Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

2020 CFP National Championship Blu-ray Movie Review

Kitten Bowl.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 27, 2020

Clemson and Alabama have been mainstays in the college football national championship scene since the format was revamped a few years ago for the 2014 season. The teams have faced off three times, with Alabama winning the 2016 title and Clemson the 2017 game. Alabama defeated Georgia in 2018, and Clemson routed Alabama in 2019. Undefeated Clemson makes an appearance again for the 2020 game, this time facing off against the consensus #1 team in the country, the LSU Tigers, in a game that was noteworthy for pitting the Tigers against the Tigers in a battle for feline supremacy fit for the Hallmark Channel.

LSU and Clemson both went into the championship game undefeated. LSU ousted fourth-seeded Oklahoma by a convincing 63-28 score, a frightening tally for Clemson, the club that scraped by Ohio State in a much more competitive game by a final score of 29-23. LSU's season was one of dominance; only three of the team's 15 games were close: a 45-38 win over Texas in week two, a 23-20 squeaker over Auburn on October 26, and a 46-41 win over Alabama two weeks later. Every other game: blowout city. LSU's impressive season was practically matched by Clemson, the Tigers also routinely routing opponents. A 24-10 week two win over Texas A&M, a 21-20 win on the road against North Carolina, and the Ohio State playoff were the only games that challenged the Tigers. Never mind David and Goliath; this was Goliath vs. Goliath (and Tiger vs. Tiger for that matter) but, as the story goes and one way or another, a giant would topple in the title game.

With both teams entering the game with a recent bias towards blowouts, would one team dominate the other? The game was truly the sporting world definition of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object, and through the first quarter, anyway, the teams struggled to get anything going. A series of back-and-forth punts defined the first half of the first quarter, and it was more than halfway through when Clemson finally broke through on a Trevor Lawrence rushing touchdown to give the Tigers a short-lived 7-0 lead. Two LSU possessions later saw the Tigers moving the ball downfield at will, resulting in a touchdown pass from Heisman winner Joe Burrow to Ja'Marr Chase to knot the game at 7, where the scoring would stay until the second where the story changed gears, and dramatically at that. A field goal and touchdown early in the quarter would give the Clemson Tigers a 17-7 lead, but LSU would storm back with 21 unanswered through the remainder of the quarter to take a 28–17 lead into the half. Clemson would score first out of the break, a touchdown and a two-point conversion, to cut the lead to 28-25. But another Joe Burrow touchdown pass would give the LSU Tigers a 10-point advantage heading into the fourth. Clemson could get nothing going on offense and LSU put seven more on the board to close out the game. Final score: LSU 42, Clemson 25. Sorry, Brent!

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 or the time in between plays during drives up and down the field, but 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.

2020 CFP National Championship Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Blu-ray presentation is not at all bad, at least not for what it is. The image presents at the broadcast 1.78:1 aspect ratio and at a resolution of 720p. The picture struggles with some compression issues but nothing that appears overly debilitating. Picture clarity is largely fine given the resolution and source limitations while details are nicely defined across the board, ranging from the turf to team uniforms. Various sideline close-ups show good, generally detailed skin textures, ditto for close-up crowd shots. Colors are very impressive, particularly the punchy, vibrant Clemson orange uniforms that are the most obviously pronounced tone throughout, surpassing even the green turn. LSU yellow and purple accents are also pleasantly bold, more so in close-up than at field overview distance seen during general gameplay. The on-screen graphics are not as sharp as one might find elsewhere; they're a little rough around the edges but overlaid clarity, both the score box on the bottom right hand side of the screen and other graphics placed atop the field, are adequately clear.

2020 CFP National Championship Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack, the only audio option on the program (unlike some other sports programs, there are no secondary audio options like team-specific broadcasts), delivers a presentation that is fine at its core and recreates the broadcast experience well enough. It's not quite so well balanced as it might be, with sounds rising and falling throughout, such as crowd noise that instantly changes in intensity depending on what microphone is selected. Background crowd noise and band instrument play sometimes compete with the Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit play by play and color commentary, which does image well enough towards the center position. Band music is pleasantly aggressive and detailed, and likewise the music going into commercials (which are not actually in the program) could stand a bit of structural fine-tuning but support the core elements well enough. Sideline reporting and interviews are fine for clarity and positioning, too.

2020 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 jump directly to the trophy presentation, which comprises the final few minutes of the program's 158 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.

2020 CFP National Championship Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's always interesting to look at some of the core, albeit crude, Amazon and Blu-ray.com statistics for a title. Take this one, the 2020 College Football championship game disc, and find a relatively high Amazon sales ranks and a relatively small Blu-ray.com collection count. One can imagine a localized demand in Louisiana for this particular title but not much enthusiasm from the Blu-ray.com audience where sports play behind film, television, and probably even video games. But with college football's near-term fate both assured (nothing on the schedule until fall) and in doubt (COVID-19), this might be one the best opportunities for fans, and anyone looking for a little taste of life before everything changed, to remember "the good old days." Team Marketing's Blu-ray couldn't be any more spartan. For those who want to watch the game, sans commercials, and with a few edits along the way, it's a good value. The video and audio presentations are at best adequate but never excel beyond. No extras are included, unless one counts the trophy presentation at the end, which plays as part of the main program. Obviously recommended to LSU fans. General football fans would be wise to pick it up, too, in case there's nothing to watch this fall.