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No. 1 Alabama will play No. 2 Texas in the BCS Championship Game in Pasadena, Calif. on Jan. 7.

Boise State finished its fourth undefeated regular season in the last six years, but still found itself ranked behind No. 5 Florida, in large part because it plays in the Western Athletic Conference.

A perfect scenario for an eight-team playoff, perhaps, but that’s years off. The current system is set for the next four years. And to hear the BCS officials tell it, there’s nothing really wrong with their system, anyway.

“We do feel like it’s working and college football is thriving,” Hancock said. “We recognize there are elements in each constituency that don’t like it, but the fact is, it has a consensus. The critics, the playoff proponents, do not have a consensus.”

Certainly, he’ll get no argument from Texas or Alabama, who meet for the first time since the 1982 Cotton Bowl — a 14-12 Longhorns win over the Tide and Bear Bryant.

“The system put us in the game,” Texas coach Mack Brown said. “We were told for the last three weeks if we won, we’d be in the game. We did that.”

Not by much, though.

It took a 46-yard field goal from Hunter Lawrence with no time left to lift the Longhorns to the victory over Nebraska. Now it’s Brown, long known for not being able to parlay all that Texas talent into a national title, who’s a win away from taking his second in five years.

Alabama, meanwhile, is in the midst of a resurgence brought about by Nick Saban, who three years ago took over a program in turmoil and now has the faithful believing again.

“There’s so much tradition and so much passion,” Saban said. “There are great expectations for what people like to accomplish around here, and it’s a feeling of tremendous self-gratification for everyone involved in the program.”

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