Using Bowl Championship Series math, the problem was solved last night when No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Texas were invited to the national title game Jan. 7 in Pasadena, Calif.

Without a playoff system, the problem of determining the best team remains subjective. But give the BCS bowls some credit for attempting to make matters more interesting as Boise State-TCU and Florida-Cincinnati were matched in the Fiesta and Sugar bowls, while the Orange Bowl has Atlantic Coast Conference champion Georgia Tech vs. Big Ten runner-up Iowa and the Rose Bowl has its traditional matchup between the Big Ten (Ohio State) and Pac-10 (Oregon) champions.

The main event, of course, is the BCS title game. Yesterday, the unofficial became official when Alabama, which pounded Florida, 32-13, in Saturday’s Southeastern Conference championship game, was matched against Texas. The Longhorns staggered in with a 13-12 victory over Nebraska, which was decided by a last-second field goal. If Hunt er Lawrence’s 46-yarder had missed, the game would have been known for one of the biggest blunders in history by Texas coach Mack Brown.

Football has been called a game of inches, but this one was a game of seconds, as well. In a case of near clock mismanagement, Texas’s Colt McCoy, who had a timeout remaining, dropped back to pass on third down, and waited and waited and waited, before he threw an incompletion out of bounds as the clock hit zero.

Game over, right? Nebraska wins, and McCoy’s Heisman hopes and the Longhorns’ national championship hopes are done. Not so fast. Thanks to instant replay, the officials determined that McCoy’s pass hit the ground with one second remaining.

Brown said he was aware of the situation but had faith in his quarterback. “He knew exactly what he was doing,’’ said Brown.

Time for one more play, which sent Texas to the BCS title game. “I don’t think there can be a better matchup than Texas and Alabama,’’ said Brown.

Actually, most of the BCS matchups don’t look bad. The Fiesta Bowl has the Nos. 4 and 6 teams in the BCS rankings in TCU and Boise State, teams from conferences (Mountain West, TCU; Western Athletic, Boise State) that don’t get automatic BCS bids. TCU and Boise State played in last year’s Poinsettia Bowl, but have moved from the kids’ table to the adult table. The Fiesta Bowl also becomes the first non-BCS championship game to match two unbeaten teams.

Florida will have a month to recover from Saturday’s blowout by Alabama before it deals with the high-powered offense of Cincinnati, which overcame a 31-10 deficit to pull out a wild 45-44 victory over Pittsburgh Saturday.

Cincinnati could have a lame-duck coach if Brian Kelly is indeed Charlie Weis’s successor at Notre Dame. If the choice is not Kelly, don’t be stunned if UConn’s Randy Edsall emerges as a contender.

The Orange and Rose bowls will be for entertainment value only. In the Orange, Georgia Tech can score and Iowa can play defense and bring thousands of fans, which is the main draw for the Hawkeyes. The Rose Bowl matches Oregon against Ohio State. The Ducks lost to Boise State at the start of the season, but rebounded nicely in a rare year in which Southern Cal did not win the Pac-10 title. Ohio State has dominated the Big Ten in recent years, but it has not had success once January arrives. The Trojans, meanwhile, will face Boston College in the Emerald Bowl, their “reward’’ for an 8-4 season.

Looking at the BCS games, you have a system that worked within the parameters that have been established. Ten bowl slots, the 10 best teams in the country, according to the final rankings.

The obvious solution would be to take the 10 teams and play off to a final two. But that’s not happening any time soon.

Considering the system, this year’s analysis of the BCS? Not bad.

Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com.