ATLANTA -- Alabama is very familiar with this role.
Washington? It's been 25 years or so.
The Peach Bowl features one of college football's greatest dynasties against the outsider in this season's College Football Playoff.
The top-ranked Crimson Tide (13-0) are going for their second consecutive national title and fifth in the last nine seasons under Coach Nick Saban.
It's national championship or bust for Alabama.
"It's the Bama way," linebacker Reuben Foster said.
Washington (12-1) comes into the Peach Bowl with an entirely different perspective.
The Huskies have played in one major bowl since Don James retired after the 1992 season and endured a stretch of six consecutive losing seasons that included an 0-12 season in 2008.
The Huskies shared the 1991 national title with Miami, during an era when the Pac-12 champion was locked into the Rose Bowl, even if it meant no clear championship matchup.
Washington was slowly getting back to mediocrity when Chris Petersen took over as coach in 2014 and went 15-12 in his first two seasons. But it all came together this season as the Huskies overcame a home loss to Southern Cal, to claim the final playoff berth behind perennial national contenders Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State.
Washington's return to prominence is based on a simple formula Petersen looks for in every recruit: talent plus character equals OKG (Our Kind of Guy).
"We feel real strongly about the guy that we're looking for that we think fits our culture, our style of football," he said Friday. "There's a lot of good players out there, and some of those guys don't fit what we're all about."
Saban, in a bit of an overstatement, said Washington's secondary reminds him of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. The Huskies have a talented, experienced group led by safety Budda Baker and cornerbacks Sidney Jones and Kevin King.
Washington can lean on its secondary as long as the Huskies can slow down Alabama's running back.
Jalen Hurts has been dynamic at quarterback for the Crimson Tide, but he is still just a freshman who could get confused by some of the looks the Huskies throw at him.
Washington's defense has created 33 turnovers, including 19 interceptions, to lead the nation.
Today marks either the second-to-last game or finale for Lane Kiffin is winding up his three-year run as Alabama's offensive coordinator.
Kiffin, working around Saban's heavy hand, was given the latitude to transform Alabama into more of a spread-like team. Saban's willingness to hire coaches who specialize in areas outside his comfort zone is a key to him keeping Alabama on top.
Kiffin will leave after the Tide complete its playoff run to become the head coach at Florida Atlantic.
Quarterback Jake Browning and a high-flying passing game gets much of the attention at Washington, but the Huskies 1,339-yard rusher Myles Gaskin to lead the rushing attack.
Gaskin came up big in victories over Utah and against Colorado in the Pac-12 Championship Game, when Browning was held to 118 yards on 9-of-24 passing.
Sports on 12/31/2016