Alabama became the first team in the BCS era to win back-to-back titles by defeating Notre Dame 42-14 on Jan. 7 in Miami. The victory over the Fighting Irish gave the SEC its seventh consecutive national championship, and the stage is set for the Crimson Tide to make another run at the BCS title in 2013. Alabama is already an early favorite to win the national championship next season and has plenty of talent returning on both sides of the ball.

The BCS just finished its 15th season of action, and has for the most part, been a major improvement on the previous bowl system. How do each of the 15 official champions stack-up against each other? Who has the most talent? Who had the best resume? Who played the toughest schedule? And who performed the best on the biggest stage?

Athlon Sports has ranked the 15 BCS National Champions — and there is a decided regional bias to the list. Just not at the very top. That distinction belongs to the Big East, Big 12 and Pac-12.

This wasn’t supposed to be the year for Alabama. Seems foolish, now doesn’t it?

The Crimson Tide returned only four defensive starters from the 2011 title squad. A Heisman finalist, Trent Richardson, left for the NFL.

It only takes one penalty, one missed assignment or one yard for one loss to end a national championship. The 20 teams listed below came up just short of playing in the national championship game for one reason or another. Sometimes, off the field issues can impact whether or not a team plays in the BCS title game (see Ohio State this year). And in one historic case, a team did everything in its power to earn a trip to the big game only to be let down by a system without a true playoff. 

Two of college football’s storied programs will meet on Jan. 7 in the most-anticipated title matchup of the BCS era. For Alabama, a trip to the national championship has almost become routine. The Crimson Tide is making their third appearance in the BCS Championship in the last four seasons and are 2-0 under Nick Saban in this setting. Alabama is also looking to become the first back-to-back champion of the BCS era.

For the 13th year in a row, some the best and brightest future stars of the college football gridiron came together in San Antonio for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Each year dozens of elite prospects go head-to-head all week in practice trying to showcase their talents for former NFL coaches, the fans, their fellow recruits and college coaches. The East Team (black) defeated the West Team (yellow) 15-8 on the back of a few big plays from its offense and special teams. So after a week of practice and 60 minutes of play, who are the winners and losers from San Antonio?

With the 15th season of BCS bowl action about to take place, Athlon reviewed the tapes of the four (now five) biggest bowl games in college football. Since 1998, teams have been fighting to land a spot in the BCS and here are the players who made the most of their opportunities.

The matchup in Dallas will be a familiar one, but the Cotton Bowl will provide the first look at how a freshman Heisman winner will react to the burden of the award.

Only Florida’s Tim Tebow spent more time in college with the phrase Heisman-winner preceded his name. Like Tebow, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford and Alabama’s Mark Ingram both won the Heisman as sophomores, but both left school after their junior seasons.

If Ole Miss players need a tour guide around Birmingham, they could ask their opponents.

Making their third consecutive trip to the BBVA Compass Bowl, Pittsburgh players should know the hot spots around town by now. While Ole Miss may be happy to play in a bowl anywhere, the Panthers are happy to make a bowl trip with a full-time coach in tow.

The merits of recruiting rankings are debated in every sports bar and around every water cooler in the nation. Athlon continues its look back at recruiting rankings by comparing the starting line-ups in the BCS National Championship Game as recruits.

Related: College Football's 2012 All-American Team as Recruits