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.

"I certainly understand that there are teams that are not in these four games that have had great seasons, as we have every year," BCS coordinator and Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said yesterday. "I must say that there's a lot of consensus that we have quality matchups among highly regarded teams in this year's BCS games."

Southern California (12-0) and Texas (12-0), the only unbeatens left in Division I-A, will decide the national title in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4.

Major college football's two winningest coaches, septuagenarians Joe Paterno of Penn State (10-1) and Bobby Bowden of Florida State (8-4), will meet in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3.

The Fighting Irish (9-2) are back in the BCS after a five-year absence. Charlie Weis' team faces Ohio State (9-2) in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2.

The relocated Sugar Bowl will be played in Atlanta after being chased from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, making it a quick and familiar trip for Southeastern Conference champion Georgia and its fans. The Bulldogs (10-2), who won the SEC title by beating LSU in the Georgia Dome, return there to meet Big East champion West Virginia (10-1) on Jan. 2.