An Alliance Fiesta: Nebraska-Florida : College football: Notre Dame-Florida State matchup in Orange Bowl a surprise.

It may have taken good-luck charms, midnight vigils, back-room prayers and one Michigan upset against Ohio State, but the new bowl alliance worked.

At least this year.

Promising the best chance short of a playoff to provide college football with a national championship game, the Fiesta Bowl was able to match the nation’s only two undefeated and untied Division I schools, Florida and Nebraska.

The pairing would not have been possible last season under the old coalition, which would have bound No. 2 Florida (12-0) to the Sugar Bowl and No. 1 Nebraska (11-0) to the Orange.

Nebraska and Florida officially accepted their Jan. 2 Fiesta invitations Sunday on a televised show. The game will mark the 11th bowl showdown between No. 1 and No. 2, the most recent when Florida State defeated Nebraska in the 1994 Orange Bowl.

The final two questions in the alliance were also answered Sunday.

The Orange Bowl, picking third and fifth, selected No. 6 Notre Dame (9-2) and No. 8 Florida State (9-2). The Sugar Bowl, with the fourth and sixth selections, took No. 9 Texas (10-1-1) and No. 13 Virginia Tech (9-2).

There were critics of the new alliance, which presented the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls the chance, on a rotating yearly basis, to match the top teams from the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big 12 and Southeastern conferences.

Missing conspicuously from the mix were the Big Ten and Pacific 10 conferences, which elected to retain their allegiance to the Rose Bowl.

How could you make a national championship game without the involvement of those two conferences?

It was the question that haunted the Fiesta Bowl, which bid $118 million this year for the right to make the top two picks, up until Nov. 25.

Heading into its game against archrival Michigan, Ohio State of the Big Ten was undefeated, ranked second and sandwiched between alliance picks No. 1 Nebraska and No. 3 Florida.

But thanks to Michigan’s upset victory over Ohio State, and clutch victories by Florida over Florida State and Arkansas in consecutive weeks, the Fiesta got its title game.

So did it luck into it?

“I guess the bottom line is that we don’t have to worry about that,” Fiesta Bowl executive director John Junker said. “What’s reality is that we have the national collegiate championship game in Tempe.”

Ironically, one of the biggest proponents of a national college football playoff is Florida Coach Steve Spurrier, whose team benefits this season from the new alliance.

“It just worked out that the two teams that were undefeated ended up playing each other,” Spurrier said Saturday night after his team clinched a spot in the Fiesta Bowl with a 34-3 victory over Arkansas. “But if Ohio State doesn’t lose, then we’re back arguing about this, that, and the other.”

For now, though, there is only Fiesta euphoria.

“It’s as good a matchup as I can remember in college football,” Junker said of Florida-Nebraska.

Junker said critics of the alliance are short-sighted.

“The alliance worked last July when we determined the bids and had a dramatic impact on three of the biggest bowls in college football,” he said.

Junker said people forget that bowl bidding for the three bowl games increased the payout for each participating team to more than $8 million.

As far as this year, the Sugar’s decision to take the Longhorns on Sunday with the third pick seemed curious with Florida State still available, except that a Texas-Virginia Tech matchup figures to be a better draw, with the Hokies expected to bring half the state to New Orleans.

The Hokies, Big East co-champions, benefited from Miami’s decision to accept its NCAA bowl sanction this season rather than next. Although Virginia Tech defeated Miami in league play, the Hurricanes probably would have been the alliance choice instead of the Hokies.

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The Bowl Picture

The guesswork ends today with the announcement of the official invitations.

BOWL GAME: Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Dec. 14, 6 p.m. (ESPN)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Nevada (9-2) vs. Toledo (10-0-1)

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BOWL GAME: Aloha

Honolulu, Dec. 25, 12:30 p.m. (ABC)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Kansas (9-2) vs. UCLA (7-4)

*

BOWL GAME: Copper

Tucson, Dec. 27, 6 p.m. (ESPN)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Air Force (8-4) vs. Texas Tech (8-3)

*

BOWL GAME: Alamo

San Antonio, Dec. 28, 5 p.m. (ESPN)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Michigan (9-3) vs. Texas A&M; (8-2)

*

BOWL GAME: Sun

El Paso, Dec. 29, 11:30 a.m. (CBS)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Washington (7-3-1) vs. Iowa (7-4)

*

BOWL GAME: Independence

Shreveport, La., Dec. 29, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

LSU (6-4-1) vs. Michigan State (6-4-1)

*

BOWL GAME: Holiday

San Diego, Dec. 29, 6 p.m. (ESPN)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Colorado State (8-3) vs. Kansas State (9-2)

*

BOWL GAME: Liberty

Memphis, Tenn., Dec. 30, 9 a.m. (ESPN)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

East Carolina (8-3) vs. Stanford (7-3-1)

*

BOWL GAME: Carquest

Miami, Dec. 30, 4:30 p.m. (TBS)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

North Carolina (6-5) vs. Arkansas (8-4)

*

BOWL GAME: Peach

Atlanta, Dec. 30, 5 p.m. (ESPN)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Virginia (8-4) vs. Georgia (6-5)

*

BOWL GAME: Sugar

New Orleans, Dec. 31, 4:30 p.m. (ABC)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Texas (10-1-1) vs. Virginia Tech (9-2)

*

BOWL GAME: Outback

Tampa, Fla., Jan. 1, 8 a.m. (ESPN)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Penn State (8-3) vs. Auburn (8-3)

*

BOWL GAME: Gator

Jacksonville, Fla., Jan. 1, 9:30 a.m. (NBC)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Syracuse (8-3) vs. Clemson (8-3)

*

BOWL GAME: Citrus

Orlando, Fla., Jan. 1, 10 a.m. (ABC)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Tennessee (10-1) vs. Ohio State (11-1)

*

BOWL GAME: Cotton

Dallas, Jan. 1, 10:30 a.m. (CBS)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Colorado (9-2) vs. Oregon (9-2)

*

BOWL GAME: Rose

Pasadena, Jan. 1, 2 p.m. (ABC)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Northwestern (10-1) vs. USC (8-2-1)

*

BOWL GAME: Orange

Miami, Jan. 1, 5 p.m. (CBS)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Florida State (9-2) vs. Notre Dame (9-2)

*

BOWL GAME: Fiesta

Tempe, Ariz., Jan. 2, 5:30 p.m. (CBS)

LIKELY OPPONENTS

Nebraska (11-0) vs. Florida (12-0)