BCS Bowl Games:

The BCS bowl selections were announced on Sunday night and there weren’t any surprises.

The No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the season’s final BCS standings, Alabama (13-0, 8-5 ATS) and Texas (13-0, 5-7-1 ATS), will meet in the National Championship on Jan. 7 in Pasadena.

“Texas will have as good of offensive players as anybody we’ve faced all year and I know they have a great defense,” said Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who believes Colt McCoy is the best all-around player his team will face this season. “This is going to be a challenging game for us; we know Texas is a great program and great team.”

The Crimson Tide opened as 4-point favorites over the Longhorns and that number quickly fluctuated to as high as 5 at some shops. The total for the title game opened at 45.

The Orange Bowl, held in Miami on Jan. 5, will feature the Iowa Hawkeyes (10-2, 7-4 ATS) and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (11-2, 8-4 ATS).

Paul Johnson runs a triple-option offense at Georgia Tech that rolls up 307.2 ypg. That high-powered offense will have to contend with Iowa’s No. 10-ranked scoring defense that surrenders less than 16 points per game.

Hawkeyes’ junior quarterback Ricky Stanzi is expected to return under center after missing the last two games of the season.

History doesn’t bode will for the Jackets with the ACC going 1-8 in BCS bowl games this decade.

Oddsmakers installed Georgia Tech as a 3-point favorite.

Two unbeaten teams from the mid-major conferences will square off in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 4 in Glendale, Ariz., when TCU (12-0, 8-4 ATS) meets Boise State (13-0, 8-5 ATS).

“Boise is a great team, but we’re here to prove a point,” said TCU head coach Gary Patterson. “I voted for us No. 2 in the polls today and feel like we have a great football team. We are out to prove that we could be the No. 1 team in the nation.”

These two teams met in the Poinsettia Bowl last season with the Horned Frogs winning 17-16.

TCU is an 8-point favorite in the Fiesta Bowl.

Big East champion Cincinnati (12-0, 6-6 ATS) will put its unblemished record to the test against the defending national champion Florida Gators (12-1, 6-6 ATS) in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1.

The distraction of Brian Kelly jetting off to South Bend could affect the Bearcats focus over the next month.

Florida must avoid the letdown factor after losing in the SEC championship. Alabama failed to show much motivation in its bowl appearance after losing in the SEC title game last season and was badly beaten by Utah.

The largest spread of the BCS bowls is the 10.5-point number laid by the Gators in the Sugar Bowl.

The BCS bowls commence with the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. The Road to the Roses will be a race between conference champions Ohio State (10-2, 9-3 ATS) and Oregon (10-2, 7-5 ATS).