By Jaime Aron | ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN – No. 2 Texas started getting ready to face No. 1 Alabama for the national championship without a game plan or a depth chart.

At least not yet.

With the BCS title game against not being played until two weeks from Thursday, coach Mack Brown is taking his time.

Brown figures it’s too early for players to delve into specifics about the Crimson Tide, so his practices thus far, and for the next few days, are focused mostly on fundamentals. He calls them similar to summer two-a-days, except that these workouts are full contact. Brown believes in a lot of hitting to keep guys sharp during the long layoff between games.

Brown has used a similar plan for many years and it’s easy to see why. Texas has won five straight bowl games and seven of its last eight, a run that includes the national championship in January 2006.

Well, there is one new wrinkle this time. That whole thing about no depth chart.

Unhappy with the way his offense played in the Big 12 championship, and still upset with the defense’s performance against Texas A&M in the game before that, Brown decided to really make practices interesting by threatening everyone into thinking their job is on the line.

“What we’re doing is we’re going back and being really, really hard on the guys,” Brown said Monday. “We’re having a lot of tough, physical drills and we’re changing the depth chart daily.”

Colt McCoy’s job is certainly safe. But the guys who got him sacked nine times against Nebraska are among those who probably better be sharp – or else.

“There’s always the possibility there will be some changes there, yes,” offensive coordinator Greg Davis said. “At 13-0, we’re not going to reinvent ourselves in a month. But I do think we have to be smart enough to tweak some things.”

McCoy hasn’t chewed out his line because he still believes in them. Besides, he has a simple answer for anyone who says they played lousy against the Cornhuskers.

“We found a way to win,” he said. “We understand we struggled a little bit. We’ve come through a lot. Now we’re in the national championship. That’s where we wanted to be when we started the season and we’re going to do everything we can to play our best.”

McCoy is among seven Texas players who were on the sideline in jerseys and jeans watching Vince Young lead No. 2 Texas to an upset of No. 1 Southern California in the Rose Bowl four years ago. Brown has talked to the team about the similarities between that game and this one, from the rankings to the setting.

Another coincidence is that the Longhorns have a Heisman Trophy finalist (last time Young, this time McCoy) and the foe has the winner (last time Trojans running back Reggie Bush, this time Alabama running back Mark Ingram). But the similarity goes even deeper on the Texas end.

Davis sent Young a text message right after the ceremony four years ago telling him, “You’re my Heisman Trophy winner,” and the quarterback responded: “Game on, coach,” knowing that the Longhorns would be facing Bush and the Trojans in the title game.

When Ingram beat McCoy, Davis sent the same message. McCoy sent the same response.

Davis said he’s told the story of that text exchange enough times that McCoy probably copied it on purpose. Asked which was the case, McCoy played it vague.

“I answered the way I felt,” he said. “I think last year was a lot more disappointing. I was fine afterward this year because I know how much more we have to play for.”

Brown mentioned in passing Monday that Texas has won 26 of its last 27 games, then later mentioned in passing that Alabama has won 25 of its last 27 games.

Coincidence? Perhaps. But don’t be surprised if he’s using stats like that to help keep his team confident as they find themselves in the rare position of being underdogs.

Of course, whenever that gets mentioned, all he has to do is remind them about the ‘05 title game, when the Longhorns weren’t just underdogs, but a big part of the game’s storyline was whether that Trojan squad deserved to be considered the greatest college football team ever to lace ‘em up.

“This is not about who had the best season. This isn’t even about the history. This isn’t even about who has the best team. It’s about whose going to play the best for 31/2 hours,” Brown said. “That’s what I learned in 2005. The rest of it’s going to be chatter. It’s going to be who plays the best for 31/2 hours.”

• Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Nick Saban knows it’s out of his control, but he wishes people would stop asking No. 1 Alabama’s players about the national championship.

That’s one of those external things he calls “clutter,” things like the Crimson Tide’s first Heisman Trophy, the Butkus Award, the six first-team All-Americans and the Southeastern Conference title.

And the biggest piece of potential clutter of all: The Tide’s Jan. 7 date with No. 2 Texas in Pasadena, Calif., for the BCS national championship.

Oops, those two dreaded words.

“I’m not worried about winning the national championship and I don’t want our players to worry about it either,” Saban shot back at a reporter Monday. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t ask them although I know you will.

“What I want our players to focus on is playing our best football and assume they’re going to be playing against the best football team they’ve ever played.”

For the time being, that pesky national title talk will remain as much a part of the fabric of the state as Bear Bryant. Impossible to avoid, even for an ultra-focused coach like Saban, who insists he has too much to do every day to waste precious seconds daydreaming or pondering what-ifs.

Actually, Saban might be capable of ignoring it except when reporters bring it up. Linebacker Cory Reamer was even asked if he’d ever heard the words “national title” come out of his coach’s mouth.

“No. And I doubt I ever will,” Reamer said.

If he has, it was probably in reference to Saban’s 2003 LSU team, which won a share of the title.

Alabama (13-0) is seeking its first national championship – sorry, Coach – since the 1992 season and trying to break an 0-7-1 record against the Longhorns (13-0).

The Tide dispatched then-No. 1 Florida 32-13 to claim the SEC title for its 25th win in the past two seasons.

This Alabama team is much more accustomed to handling the hype than last year’s group, which was unable to rebound from an SEC championship game loss to the Gators.

Stunned by the game-week suspension of Outland Trophy-winning left tackle Andre Smith, the Tide lost the Sugar Bowl 31-17 to Utah.

This Alabama team is much more seasoned in handling hype, and has mostly steered clear of off-the-field troubles.

“I think we’ve gotten better at it,” All-America cornerback Javier Arenas said. “We were undefeated last year and the expectations, and people were saying this and saying that. And we’ve managed it pretty well.

“If we just do the same thing for this game, then we’ll get the same results if we do everything else right.”

The colorful Arenas even offers an analogy to explain what Saban means by mental clutter.

“You drive down the road and you’re thinking about a chick and you hit a dog on the road, that’s clutter,” he said.

Hazards are everywhere for the Tide.

Tailback Mark Ingram captured the school’s first Heisman, which rests next to the SEC championship trophy in the first trophy case on the second floor of Alabama’s football building. Linebacker Rolando McClain won the Butkus Award. Those two were first-team All-Americans, along with Arenas, guard Mike Johnson, nose guard Terrence Cody and kicker Leigh Tiffin.

Saban knows none of that counts for points in Pasadena.

“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,” Saban said. “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.”

But he knows who won: Florida (twice) and LSU, both SEC rivals. Now, Alabama is trying to keep it in the league.

The Tide will practice through Wednesday before breaking for Christmas, then resume workouts on campus from Dec. 27-31. The players voted to travel to Pasadena together by charter flight even if that means losing the NCAA bowl stipend. Alabama has appealed in hopes that they will receive at least part of the money.

The game supplies the biggest potential payday.

“You only get one shot at the national championship,” tight end Colin Peek said. “You want to give it your best.”