ALABAMA FOOTBALL: Tide to square off against Texas for national championship

Two of the most tradition-rich college football programs in America — top-ranked Alabama and No. 2 Texas — will collide for the national championship on Jan. 7 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

Forget about a bowl trip being a reward for a great season, or an opportunity to begin building for next season. Unlike any other bowl, the Citi BCS National Championship Game is all about the outcome.

“They’ve had a great season and they’re going to have a trip that they can enjoy, an experience that they can enjoy,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said during Sunday night’s teleconference.

“But what they’re going to remember most about this is the game itself. They’ll live with the outcome of it for a long, long time. So that should be the most important thing that they’re focused on.”

Texas coach Mack Brown echoed those sentiments.

“The University of Alabama and the University of Texas live in a fishbowl of high standards. The expectation is to win every week,” Brown said.

“Our guys will understand this game is important, like the last one and like the one before that. We’ll start looking now to have the best preparation that we can based on our other bowl experiences.”

Those experiences are vast on both sides.

Alabama has played in the most bowl games (57) and is tied with Southern California for most bowl victories in the history of college football. The Crimson Tide is 31-22-3 in bowl games and has made 35 of its 57 appearances in the Sugar (13), Orange (8), Cotton (7) and Rose (7) bowls.

However, Texas has a decided advantage in head-to-head play. The Longhorns are 7-0-1 all-time against the Tide, including a 14-12 victory in the 1982 Cotton Bowl in their most recent game.

Both Alabama and Texas are 13-0 and the winner will be only the third team all time to win 14 games (BYU in 1996, Ohio State in 2002), and only the second to go 14-0 (Ohio State in 2002).

“When these two teams match up, there’s tremendous history. These are two storied programs in college football,” Brown said. “Both groups of these kids will be excited about the Rose Bowl, excited about the challenge of the other team.”

Both coaches said they spent part of Sunday researching logistics for the next month.

Saban said the Crimson Tide will take a break before starting preparations.

“I know we won’t practice for two weeks,” Saban said. “I just haven’t solidified exactly the days — when we start and when we’re off for Christmas and when we come back, all those things, to this point.”

Brown said he caught the first few minutes of Alabama’s 32-13 victory over defending national champion Florida before his team edged Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship. It didn’t take long to be impressed with Alabama’s defense, he said.

“I could tell the first time Florida ... ran their option shovel pass and the defense end followed the tight end down the line and got him in the backfield,” Brown said. “Those guys are prepared, they’re watching it and they know what they’re doing.

“We’re really excited about (defensive coordinator and head-coach-in-waiting) Will Muschamp and Nick raised him. He learned what he knows from Nick. They do as good a job on defense as anybody in the country.”