Programs who have played for a NC in the BCS/Playoff Era

Alabama vs. Ohio State will be the 23rd installment of a true National Championship Game which began with the BCS Era in 1998. It's surprising that this will be the first time Alabama and Ohio State have met in a National Championship Game considering they both now rank #1 and #2 for most National Championship Game Appearances.

Overall, 17 programs have played for the National Championship during this era. They are below, sorted by most appearances:

8- Alabama (2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020)
5- Ohio State (2002, 2006, 2007, 2014, 2020)
4- Florida State (1998, 1999, 2000, 2013)
4- Oklahoma (2000, 2003, 2004, 2008)
4- LSU (2003, 2007, 2011, 2019)
4- Clemson (2015, 2016, 2018, 2019)
2- Miami (2001, 2002)
2- USC (2004, 2005)
2- Texas (2005, 2009)
2- Florida (2006, 2008)
2- Auburn (2010, 2013)
2- Oregon (2010, 2014)
1- Tennessee (1998)
1- Virginia Tech (1999)
1- Nebraska (2001)
1- Notre Dame (2012)
1- Georgia (2017)

The only programs out of the 17 Elites without an appearance are Michigan and Penn State. The two non-elites to make an appearance are Virginia Tech and Oregon.

We're running out of opportunities for a new program to make the National Title Game. From 1998-2006, we saw 9 consecutive years of at least one program making their first appearance in a Title Game.

1998- Tennessee/Florida State
1999- Virginia Tech
2000- Oklahoma
2001- Miami/Nebraska
2002- Ohio State
2003- LSU
2004- USC
2005- Texas
2006- Florida

Since then, we've seen 14 Championship Games with only 6 new programs added who played in their first title game:

2009- Alabama
2010- Auburn/Oregon
2012- Notre Dame
2015- Clemson
2017- Georgia

2020 now makes 3 consecutive Title Games without a program making their first appearance... the longest drought without a new program since the era began. This could go on a very long time too because I don't see any other programs joining the group soon.