Monster title tilt set

LOS ANGELES — A perfect championship game, a classic coaching matchup and Notre Dame.

The Bowl Championship Series couldn't have asked for more — a glitzy lineup with little for critics to gripe over. Only Oregon has a case to complain, as the Pac-10 has a 10-1 team left out of the marquee bowls for a second straight season.

"I certainly understand that there are teams that are not in these four games that have had a great seasons, as we have every year," BCS coordinator and Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said Sunday. "I must say that there's a lot of consensus that we have quality matchups among highly regarded teams in this year's BCS games."

Southern California and Texas, the only unbeatens left in Division I-A, will decide the national title in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4.

"They do have the No. 1 team in the country," Texas coach Mack Brown said of the two-time defending champion Trojans. "They've just blown out people out right and left and that will be challenge for us. But that's fun.

"For Texas not to be in the national championship game for 36 years and to see where (USC coach) Pete (Carroll) has brought their program the last three years, that's where we want to be. That's where we want to go."

Major college football's two winningest coaches, septuagenarians Penn State's Joe Paterno and Florida State's Bobby Bowden, will meet in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3.

The Fighting Irish are back in the BCS after a five-year absence. Charlie Weis' team faces Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2.

The relocated Sugar Bowl will be played in Atlanta on Jan. 2 after being chased from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, making it a quick and familiar trip for Southeastern Conference champion Georgia and its fans to the Georgia Dome. The Bulldogs (10-2), who won the SEC title by beating LSU in the Georgia Dome on Saturday, meet Big East champion West Virginia (10-1).

The BCS has been hammered in the past for putting the wrong teams in its championship games. Two years ago, USC got left out and college football ended up with a split title. Last season, the problem was too many unbeaten teams, and many felt Auburn should have played USC for the championship instead of Oklahoma.

The other common complaint is the BCS doesn't create compelling matchups beyond the title game. Well, it all worked out for this season. Even before a bowl game is played, the BCS can declare victory.

Sure, anyone could tell you that Texas and USC should be playing for the championship. But remember, in the pre-BCS days of college football the two superpowers would be going separate ways for the postseason.