Barely a moment had passed after Clemson had routed Alabama in last year’s national championship when Dabo Swinney leaned in and told Nick Saban he was already resigned to the inevitability of another rematch.

“See you next year,” Swinney told Saban.

Swinney was wrong, to the surprise of the entire college football universe. But, in a strange twist, he was also right. That’s because the best teams in college football arrived at this point because of Alabama.

This year’s College Football Playoff includes Louisiana State, Ohio State, Clemson and Oklahoma. And that list is remarkable because for the first time in the playoff’s six-year history, Saban’s team won’t be running onto the field for a semifinal game.

The school’s run of five consecutive appearances was unparalleled. But it turns out that the best way to understand the four teams that did make it in 2019 is through the one team that stunningly didn’t.