Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram rushed for a pair of touchdowns and Alabama knocked out Texas star quarterback Colt McCoy early, as the top-ranked Crimson Tide beat the Longhorns, 37-21, to win their 13th national championship.

Alabama gave the SEC its fourth consecutive national champion, as Florida sandwiched a pair of titles around one by LSU the past three years. Alabama (14-0) won its first national title since 1992 and did it by surviving a late rally from freshman signal-caller Garrett Gilbert.

McCoy suffered a right shoulder injury early in the first quarter of the BCS title game and didn't return.

Marcell Dareus' hard hit forced McCoy out of the game and the Alabama defensive lineman later returned an interception 28 yards for a touchdown with three seconds left in the first half.

Trent Richardson ripped off a 49-yard scoring burst in the second quarter and added a two-yard TD run with 47 seconds left in the game for the Crimson Tide, who also had a 26-yard field goal from Leigh Tiffin. After Richardson's scoring run, the Tide started to celebrate, dousing head coach Nick Saban with a cooler of red punch.

"I wish they'd do the water. You know, the Gatorade is awful sticky," Saban said.

Saban revealed after the game that Ingram was playing with a foot injury he suffered in practice. Ingram was limited for a time in the game, but returned to ulimately help the Tide seal the win.

"He's a great competitor, and he certainly wanted to go back in the game, and we certainly needed him to, because he's an outstanding runner, he's a good short yardage runner and has the most experience doing it for us," Saban said. "It worked out for us to be able to score and get a ten-point lead."

Gilbert, the son of former NFL quarterback Gale Gilbert. stepped in for McCoy and had a horrendous first half, but threw two second-half touchdown passes to Jordan Shipley. The last, a 28-yarder, came with 6:15 remaining. The two-point conversion pass to Dan Buckner pulled the No. 2 Longhorns within 24-21.

Texas (13-1) got the ball back after an Alabama punt, but Gilbert was nailed from behind by Eryk Anders on a blitz and lost the ball. Courtney Upshaw recovered for the Tide at the Texas three. Ingram, who scored the go-ahead TD in the second quarter, then sealed the win by getting three cracks at the goal line, the final one when he barely broke the plane for a one-yard score with 2:01 left.

Two plays later, Javier Arenas got his second interception of the night to end any miraculous hopes of a Texas comeback.

Saban became the first coach in the polls to win national titles with two different schools. He won the 2003 BCS championship with LSU.

"He's just a coach that is driven, and he has a vision, and he tries to do his best to instill his characteristics in us," Ingram said. "As you can see, like he was excited, but he was more excited for everybody else than he was more of himself."

Ingram rushed for 116 yards on 22 carries, while Richardson gained 109 yards on 19 carries. Ingram was named the game's offensive MVP, while Dareus was tabbed with defensive honors.

Greg McElroy connected on 6-of-11 passes for 58 yards for the Crimson Tide, while Gilbert ended 15-of-40 for 186 yards with a pair of TDs and four interceptions. Shipley had 10 catches for 122 yards.

Gilbert was stymied by completing just 1-of-10 passes for minus-four yards and had two interceptions in the first half. But he came alive in the third quarter, hitting Shipley with a 44-yard scoring play with 1:31 left.

That pulled the Longhorns within 11 points, and they recovered the ensuing onside kick, but were forced to punt.

After Tiffin was wide left on a 52-yard field goal, Texas capped a nine-play, 65-yard drive with Shipley's second TD grab to pull the Longhorns within one score, but Alabama held on.

"I think everybody on our team believed that we were going to win the game, and it's been that way since I've been here," Shipley said. "I think that's something that that team helped to establish was just that belief that we're going to win the game no matter what."

Saban elected for a trick play at an odd time and it backfired. After being stopped on three straight downs to start the game, Alabama tried a fake punt, but P.J. Fitzgerald's pass attempt to Dre Kirkpatrick was picked off by Blake Gideon.

That gave Texas the ball at the Alabama 37 and a bit later McCoy kept the ball on a rushing play for no yards and was nailed in the shoulder by Dareus at the Alabama 11-yard line. McCoy was then sent to the sideline to have his shoulder worked on, and the Longhorns sent Gilbert in at QB.

"When it came to the first play of McCoy, I really didn't try to hit him that hard. I didn't want to hurt him," Dareus said. "It was a part of the game. You don't think, you just react, and I just reacted to what I saw."

The Crimson Tide's defense stiffened and Hunter Lawrence kicked an 18-yard field goal with 9:11 left in the quarter for a 3-0 lead.

McCoy went back to the locker room for x-rays on the shoulder. The Heisman Trophy finalist then exited the x-ray room and was out of his pads with a dejected look on his face, one that ultimately signaled the end of his collegiate career. The x-rays were negative, but the sprained shoulder, kept McCoy out.

"He was really in pain at halftime, and he and his dad were sitting there with the doctors," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "I never even asked the doctors because I could tell, he didn't need to be back out on the field."

The Longhorns then elected to kick off short and the ball bounced in front of Alabama's Julio Jones before Texas recovered at the Crimson Tide 30. Texas failed to get a first down, and Lawrence booted a 42-yard field goal.

Alabama was forced to punt on its next possession, but the Tide then moved the ball inside the five as the quarter came to a close. The big play was a McElroy 22-yard pass to Jones. Ingram then rumbled nine yards to the Texas three as the first quarter ended.

Ingram bolted up the middle for a two-yard TD run on the second play of the second quarter for a 7-6 Alabama lead.

Richardson later bolted for a 49-yard TD rush with 7:59 left until the half.

The problems continued for Gilbert on Texas' next possession. D.J. Monroe rumbled 28 yards to the Alabama 32 before Gilbert threw too high to an open Malcolm Williams in the end zone. On the ensuing play, a 3rd-and-5 situation from the Alabama 27, Arenas stepped in front of Shipley for the interception.

Alabama forced a three-and-out and got the ball back at the Texas 29 after a short punt and a 12-yard return by Arenas. Texas' defense tightened, and Tiffin kicked a 26-yard field goal with 29 seconds left.

The Longhorns then took a chance with a shovel pass, but Monroe couldn't pull it in, and Dareus picked the deflected ball out of mid-air and surged uncontested to the end zone.

"After Colt got hurt, obviously we were limited in some of the things we could do," Brown said. "The play before the half they tried to throw a little shuffle pass and tried to take a shot in the end zone because we knew points would be hard, that one went against us."

Game Notes

Alabama defeated Texas for the first time in nine meetings (1-7-1)...Alabama made its eighth appearance at the Rose Bowl Stadium, including its seventh postseason bowl game, and is now 6-2 at the venue...Alabama has posted a 32-22-3 all-time record in its 57 bowl appearances...The five quarterback sacks allowed by Alabama is the most given up by the Crimson Tide this season...Tiffin's kick failed on the final extra point try of the game.

BCS Championship: Texas Longhorns vs. Alabama Crimson Tide
This is the big one and has the best two teams facing each other according to the BCS. With Texas going 13-0 where else can you them with Florida losing convincingly vs. the Tide. Alabama and Texas have racked up quite a few trophies during the past month. Both teams desperately want to add one more. In a star-studded, powerhouse matchup of unbeaten teams, the top-ranked Crimson Tide and No. 2 Longhorns meet for the BCS championship at the Rose Bowl on Thursday night. While fellow undefeated teams TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State may have felt slighted by being shut out of the title game, the BCS could not have delivered a more high-profile matchup. Coach Nick Saban's Tide feature Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram and six first-team All-Americans, while Mack Brown's Longhorns rely on star quarterback Colt McCoy and an equally oaded roster.

Texas (13-0) is seeking its second BCS championship in five years. The Longhorns can win it in the same location where they stunned Southern California for the title during the 2005 season, winning 41-38 behind Vince Young in one of college football's most compelling games. Texas, though, faces a daunting task against Alabama (13-0), which dominated defending BCS champion Florida 32-13 in the SEC title game Dec. 5, snapping the then-No. 1 Gators' 22-game winning streak. For Alabama coach Nick Saban, his priority in the long run-up to the title game is putting that contest in the past and the hype aside. "The field's still going to be 50 yards wide and 100 yards deep and how they play in that game - I don't care what award they won, or how many All-Americans we have - none of that stuff's going to matter when the game starts," said Saban, who has Alabama in the championship game in his third season with the program. "It's going to be how we play. That's what the players need to understand. "Unless you have success in the next game, it doesn't really matter. I can't even name anybody that's played in this game the last three years that didn't have success." No Tide player had more success this season than Ingram, who rushed for a school-record 1,542 yards and 15 touchdowns. The sophomore ran for 113 yards and three scores against Florida to help him claim college football's highest individual honor - the first Heisman for an Alabama player.Not only does Tide get the Heisman but the Championship as well.
We like Alabama to cover the 4.5