Joey Johnston

They will stage the BCS Championship Game on Jan. 7 at Pasadena, Calif., a spectacular setting to determine the nation’s No. 1 team.

But it will mostly be for show.

Let’s not kid ourselves. The real national championship game is Saturday at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome, when the No. 1-ranked Florida Gators (12-0) meet the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide (12-0) to decide the SEC title.

This isn’t meant as a slap against Texas, which is also working to get lucky victory No. 13. We don’t mean to slam the nation’s unbeaten darlings: TCU, Cincinnati or Boise State.

It’s just a fact.

There’s the top level (Florida-Alabama). Then there is everyone else.

If the BCS system wasn’t in place — if we were simply matching the two best teams without conference and bowl game entanglements — the national title game would be simple.

Florida vs. Alabama.

Here are three reasons why the SEC title game should be much more intriguing than the BCS title game.

• It’s a rematch. Florida downed unbeaten Alabama 31-20 in last season’s ultimate SEC clash, rallying in the fourth quarter behind a resolute Tim Tebow. That fourth quarter alone seemed like a game for the ages. The feelings have been brewing for one year. Now many of the same players — in the same setting and almost the same scenario — get to do it again.
• It’s the SEC. The league’s championship game is an amazing event. The intensity and expectations are unmatched. Atlanta is the perfect site (while other leagues rotate their games and don’t have nearly the same continuity).
• We’ve been waiting for it all season. Early on, it seemed obvious that Florida and Alabama were on a collision course. Now the game is here.

Florida, the defending national champion, has a 22-game winning streak. Even before the season, as reporters tried to frame the Gators in a historical sense with other programs that tried to repeat, Florida coach Urban Meyer constantly reminded everyone of the priority.

“Our goal is getting to Atlanta.’’

And now the Gators have made it.

“It is almost a relief that we’re here,’’ Meyer said. “The expectation level, it felt like it was on you the whole year. With No. 1 vs. No. 2, college football wants this game.

“I’ve been hearing it a long time, trying to ignore it, trying to push it back. The players have been doing that, too. There’s all this talk about (a potential meeting between Florida and Alabama) and it’s week five, six, seven, eight. The focus has been tremendous. Now it’s here and you can just say, ‘Hey, let’s go play.’ ”

Last season, Florida took an early loss against Ole Miss and spent the entire season climbing a mountain, knowing that one false step would foil any hopes of a national title. This season, the Gators have known that anything short of a 50-6 victory (against almost anyone) would be greeted with, “What happened, guys?’’ So the dynamics have been completely different.

So far, the results are the same.

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Alabama, winners of 24 consecutive regular-season games, has worked with similar emotions.

“I don’t know if it was more difficult than last year, but last year’s team, from the outset, really wanted to prove something,’’ Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “There was a built-in motivation. This year’s team knew it wanted to be good each week, to play at its best, and it was important for them to do that. It wasn’t like there was an external factor of trying to prove something to somebody.

“The goal is to be a champion. I didn’t say ‘Win a championship.’ I said, ‘To be a champion.’ We want to be a team where there is respect and trust, where everybody plays together. There’s really no sense of relief or complacency. Until you finish the last play of the last game, there’s still another challenge out there.’’

A huge challenge.

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“It seems like it’s the way it should be, the Florida team playing against the Alabama team,’’ Tebow said.

“These are the kind of games you remember for the rest of your life,’’ Alabama cornerback Javier Arenas said.

As Meyer said — with Saban undoubtedly concurring — “Hey, let’s go play.’’

It’s the game we’ve been anticipating since September. It’s only fitting that both teams are 12-0. It’s also perfect that we can pick right up from the intensity of last season’s matchup.

The SEC Championship Game stands alone as this season’s top contest.

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Next month, they will also hold a BCS Championship Game. For the first time, it will be staged at the Rose Bowl stadium, a breathtaking backdrop and one of college football’s iconic venues.

That will be a good one.

But don’t be surprised if it’s a letdown from what occurs on Saturday afternoon in Atlanta.