Two for the show

What was all but assured Saturday night was confirmed by Sunday evening.

The matchup is set and Alabama fans can start calling their travel agents.

The conclusion of the drama-free BCS selection show on Fox revealed the foregone showdown between old national powers Alabama and Texas in the BCS national championship game played Jan. 7 in Pasadena's Rose Bowl.

It's No. 1 vs. No. 2 yet again for the Crimson Tide (13-0) who stepped into the top spot after Saturday's 32-13 beating of Florida in the SEC Championship Game. Texas, also undefeated in 13 games, escaped the Big 12 title game with a 46-yard field goal that cleared the upright by mere feet in a 13-12 win over Nebraska.

The early betting line has the Tide a four-point favorite, but coach Nick Saban wanted nothing to do with such talk. He ripped into an ESPN television crew who asked him about being a big favorite entering the game and he reiterated the thoughts on a teleconference moments later.

"You can't drink the Kool-Aid by listening to what everyone is saying is going to happen in a game when nobody really knows what's going to happen," Saban said.

"When you listen to some of these talking heads out there that make these predictions about what's going to happen and why they're going to pick who's going to win based on probably a lot of misinformation. So I always try to insulate our players from that."

Considering the pride and traditions of both programs, neither coach said they were worried about motivational issues cropping up in the month leading up to game day.

The teams carry two Heisman Trophy contenders in Texas' Colt McCoy and Alabama's Mark Ingram. The award will be presented this Saturday, so team honors will be all that's decided in Pasadena.

Texas will certainly be more familiar with the setting since it won the school's fourth national championship in the Rose Bowl in 2006 as a heavy underdog to USC.

Alabama has played just three games west of the SEC boundaries in the past decade and has not played a postseason game in the Rose Bowl since 1946.

Alabama's last game in the Rose Bowl Stadium came in 2000 when coach Mike DeBose's team opened the season with a 35-24 loss to UCLA, which uses the historic setting as its home field.

Back in the early stages of Alabama's rise to national prominence, the Rose Bowl was the Tide's western home. The first five bowl games played by Alabama from 1926-38 were set in Pasadena and the program has a 4-1-1 overall record in Rose Bowl games.

Still a full month away, travel plans for the Tide were not yet known, Saban said, and practice won't likely resume for some time. Since NCAA rules allow just 15 practices before postseason games, Saban said it will likely be two weeks before the team returns to the practice fields as he prepares to hit the recruiting trail this week.