BCS Rankings Week 15: Alabama, Texas Will Battle for Championship

The wait is finally over.

After Alabama's smashing defeat of the Florida Gators for the SEC championship, the Crimson Tide's spot at the top of the BCS Rankings was guaranteed. 

Alabama's opponent in the championship game, however, wasn't exactly clear until today.

It took Texas until the final kick of the game to secure their No. 2 spot behind Alabama.

Actually, despite what Bo Pelini might think , Texas can probably thank the Nebraska kicker for their shot at a national title.  If it weren't for his shanked kickoff out of bounds, Texas might not have won the game.

But, as a result of the botched kick that led to a game winning field goal by the Longhorns, the BCS conferences can breathe a sigh of relief.  Alabama will face Texas for the BCS National Championship.

TCU, Cincinnati, and Boise State all finished the season unbeaten and tried to make their own claim for a chance at a national title, but at the end of the day their rankings fell short.

As a consolation, there will be two BCS bowl games featuring undefeated teams this year.  The Fiesta Bowl will pit TCU against Boise State.

One team had their dreams shattered this week, though.  A deflated Florida team dropped to No. 5 in the latest BCS rankings, showing the world that Tim Tebow is human after all.

The Big Ten was anything but deflated, though, after learning the conference would get their fifth consecutive year of two BCS berths. 

Ohio State's spot in the Rose Bowl was secured with their Big Ten title, but Iowa found out today it will face Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.  The two teams swapped spots this weak in the BCS rankings.  

This might be the first time in the history of the bowl championship series that the entire Top 10 BCS teams got berths.

That means Penn State, Virginia Tech, LSU, and BYU all looking in from the outside.  Adding insult to injury, Penn State fell two spots in the rankings to No. 13, behind LSU and Virginia Tech.

Here's how the BCS bowls shape up...

BCS title game: Alabama vs. Texas
Rose Bowl: Oregon vs. Ohio State
Fiesta Bowl: Boise State vs. TCU
Sugar Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Florida
Orange Bowl: Iowa vs. Georgia Tech

Here's this week's entire BCS poll...

1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. TCU
4. Cincinnati
5. Florida
6. Boise State
7. Oregon
8. Ohio State
9. Georgia Tech
10. Iowa
11. Virginia Tech
12. LSU
13. Penn State
14. BYU
15. Miami
16. West Virginia
17. Pittsburgh
18. Oregon State
19. Oklahoma State
20. Arizona
21. Stanford
22. Nebraska
23. Utah
24. USC
25. Wisconsin