2010 BCS National Championship Game

The 2010 Citi BCS National Championship Game will be the finale of the Bowl Championship Series, between the Texas Longhorns and the Alabama Crimson Tide, and will be hosted by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, January 7, 2010 with a scheduled start time of 8:30 PM EST.

With two of the most storied programs in college football, it will be the ninth meeting of Texas and Alabama, the first since the 1982 Cotton Bowl Classic. Since their first meeting in 1902, the Longhorns lead the series 7–0–1. Alabama has played six times in the Rose Bowl Game, more than any other school outside of the Pac-10 and Big Ten conferences, while Texas has made two visits to the Rose Bowl Game, beating Michigan 38-37 in 2005, and winning the 2005 National Championship over the defending titleholders USC in the 2006 contest by a score of 41-38. That game was described by many observers as "the greatest college football game ever played".

This will be the last BCS game to air on over-the-air television for at least four years in the United States. ABC will televise this game, as well as the Rose Bowl, while FOX will televise the remainder of the BCS. The 2010 games mark the final year of the current contracts with FOX and ABC; ESPN will take over the BCS starting in 2011, including the Rose Bowl Game and the National Championship.

This will mark the third time that the Tournament of Roses has hosted the BCS National Championship game in Pasadena, and the first under the "plus one national championship game" system. Besides the aforementioned 2006 game, Miami (Florida) beat Nebraska 37–14 in the 2002 game.

BCS season timeline

• Spring practice and games were started as early as Friday, February 20, 2009 and must end no later than Tuesday, April 28, 2009
• First games of the season were played on Thursday, September 3, 2009
• First Harris Poll was released on Sunday, September 27, 2009
• First BCS standings were posted on Sunday, October 18, 2009
• BCS Selection Sunday was Sunday, December 6, 2009

BCS standings

The initial BCS Bowl Championship Series Standings were released on Sunday, October 18, 2009. It shows Florida (6-0) on top of the list. It was followed by Alabama (7-0), Texas (6-0), Boise State (6-0) and Cincinnati (6-0).

The Nos. 1-2 teams in the initial BCS standings have played just once in the BCS National Championship – USC and Texas (2005). Five times in the first 10 years of the system, the No. 1 team from the initial selection week has advanced to the title contest, and Florida State (1999) and USC (2004) are the only two first-week No. 1 schools to capture the eventual crown. Every year (excluding 1998 when UCLA and Ohio State opened at 1-2) at least one of the top two first standings’ squads has advanced to the BCS National Championship. The Florida Gators, last year's national champion, made their debut in the first BCS standings at No. 10, and fought all the way into the title game.

• October 25, 2009: Florida (7-0); Alabama (8-0); Texas (7-0); Iowa (8-0); USC (6-1) — With this standings, coupled with the fact that Florida and Alabama must play for the SEC Championship, the top four teams could presumably all play in the Pasadena Rose Bowl in January 2010, two in the Rose Bowl Game and two in the BCS National Championship Game.
• November 1, 2009: Florida (8-0); Texas (8-0); Alabama (8-0); Iowa (9-0); Cincinnati (8-0)
• November 8, 2009: Florida (9-0); Alabama (9-0); Texas (9-0); TCU (9-0); Cincinnati (9-0)
• November 15, 2009: Florida (10-0); Alabama (10-0); Texas (10-0); TCU (10-0); Cincinnati (10-0)
• November 22, 2009: Florida (11-0); Alabama (11-0); Texas (11-0); TCU (11-0); Cincinnati (10-0)
• November 29, 2009: Florida (12-0); Alabama (12-0); Texas (12-0); TCU (12-0); Cincinnati (11-0)
• December 6, 2009: Alabama (13-0); Texas (13-0); Cincinnati (12-0); TCU (12-0); Florida (12-1)

Main article: 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

Notes

• All tickets are priced at $275 each.
• Both teams will be housed in hotels and will practice in Orange County.
• Musical performances by multi-platinum artist Josh Groban and four-time Tony Award-winning singer and actress Audra McDonald.
• Keith Jackson, former college football play-by-play announcer for ABC Sports, will perform the coin toss. Jackson was inducted into the Rose Bowl Game's Hall of Fame in 1999.
• Radio – ESPN and XM Satellite Radio (Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, Todd Blackledge and Wendi Nix); Texas Sports Network KVET, 1300 AM (Keith Moreland and Roger Wallace); Alabama Sports Network WZBQ, 94.1 FM (Eli Gold and Phil Savage)

Teams

On game day, Texas will wear its white jerseys and be situated on the west sideline, and Alabama will wear its dark jerseys using the east bench at the Rose Bowl stadium.

The two teams playing in this game have won 16 national championships. Texas won in 1963, 1969, 1970 and 2005, and Alabama were champions in 1925, 1926, 1930, 1934, 1941, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979, and 1992. Texas has participated in three previous BCS Bowl games and is only one of two teams undefeated that have played in at least three BCS Bowls. Alabama has played in two previous BCS Bowl games, 2009 Allstate Sugar Bowl and 2000 FedEx Orange Bowl. The Crimson Tide lost to Michigan 35-34 in overtime in 2000, marking the first BCS overtime game.

Alabama has a 4-1-1 record in the Rose Bowl Game with its last appearance in 1946, winning over USC 34-14. The team's first game was played in 1926 when it defeated Washington 20-19.

Texas makes its third appearance in the game and has won its first two games by three points or less. The last time, Texas won the BCS National Chamionship in 2006 by defeating USC 41-38 with Vince Young scoring a 8-yard run touchdown with 19 seconds left in the game. The previous year, Texas won the Rose Bowl game 38-37 over Michigan when Dusty Mangum kicked a field goal as time expired.

External links

• Official BCS Website
• Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association