BCS appears to have gotten it right

LOS ANGELES—

A perfect championship game, a classic coaching matchup and Notre Dame. The Bowl Championship Series couldn’t have asked for more — a glitzy lineup with little for critics to gripe over. Only Oregon has a case to complain, as the Pac- 10 has a 10- 1 team left out of the marquee bowls for a second straight season.

Southern California and Texas, the only unbeatens left in Division I- A, will decide the national title in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4.

“ They do have the No. 1 team in the country,” Texas coach Mack Brown said of the two- time defending champion Trojans. “ They’ve just blown people out right and left and that will be challenge for us. But that’s fun.” Major college football’s two winningest coaches, septuagenarians Joe Paterno of Penn State and Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, will meet in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3. The Fighting Irish are back in the BCS after a five- year absence. Charlie Weis’s team faces Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2. The relocated Sugar Bowl will be played in Atlanta on Jan. 2 after being chased from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, making it a quick and familiar trip for Southeastern Conference champion Georgia and its fans to the Georgia Dome. The Bulldogs ( 10- 2), who won the SEC title by beating LSU in the Georgia Dome on Saturday, meet Big East champion West Virginia ( 10- 1). USC has won 34 straight games and will be looking to make history with an unprecedented third consecutive national title. USC running back Reggie Bush is the front- runner to win the Heisman when it’s handed out in New York on Saturday.