Michigan-Washington is the final championship rematch next season

When the Michigan Wolverines and Washington Huskies take the field for the second time this calendar year on Saturday, there will be significantly less fanfare than their first meeting.

In January, the Wolverines and Huskies faced off at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas to determine the college football national champions. This weekend is a clash between a program that wants to compete in the expanded College Football Playoff odds (Michigan, which had its streak of 23 straight home wins broken by Texas in Week 2) and another that just wants to gain a foothold (Washington, which has lost two of its last three games).

However, history tells us that the rematch is something to keep an eye on. The national championship game was repeated the next season only four times since the first BCS National Championship Game in 1998 – with three of those games being decided by a one-point margin.

Here's a look back at these four national title rematches:

2018: Alabama 35, Georgia 28

The season after the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs delivered an instant classic to determine the 2017 college football national champions, the two storied programs met again in the SEC Championship.

In the rematch, Alabama prevailed again, although Georgia controlled the game early on. The Bulldogs led by two touchdowns midway through the third quarter when the Crimson Tide, aided by Jalen Hurts replacing the injured Tua Tagovailoa, stormed back to score 21 unanswered points and the victory.

2017: Alabama 24, Clemson 6

A season after their legendary national championship game, Alabama faced the Clemson Tigers again in the College Football Playoff – this time in the semifinals.

Although it was perhaps impossible to repeat last year's thriller, the semi-final was comparatively harmless. Clemson's defense held its own, allowing just 261 yards of total offense to the Crimson Tide, but a pick-six from Alabama's Mack Wilson put the game out of reach at the end of the third quarter.

2016: Clemson 35, Alabama 31

National title rematches are rare, but a rematch in the title game itself? Even more. A year after Alabama defeated Clemson 45-40 to give the Crimson Tide its fourth national title in seven seasons, the Tigers returned to sports' biggest stage and got their revenge.

Alabama held a small lead for most of the game, setting the stage for an exciting finish in the fourth quarter. The title game saw three lead changes in the final five minutes, with Clemson having the last laugh when Deshaun Watson scored on Hunter Renfrow with just one second left to win the Tigers' first national championship under Dabo Swinney.

2012: Alabama 21, LSU 17

Alabama earned an emphatic 21-0 victory over the LSU Tigers in the 2011 national championship – which included five field goals and just one touchdown.

However, the rematch between the two rivals ten months later in Baton Rouge was a thriller. LSU surpassed its title game performance by 343 total yards, but it still wasn't enough for the win. AJ McCarron hit TJ Yeldon for a 28-yard score with just under a minute left to give the fifth-ranked Crimson Tide a road victory over the fifth-ranked Tigers.