Alabama QB's girlfriend in spotlight after BCS title win

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - A day after ESPN cameras lingered on her, announcers piled on compliments and at least one pro athlete made an online pass at her, Twitter was still abuzz Tuesday about former Miss Alabama Katherine Webb, who is dating Crimson Tide championship quarterback AJ McCarron.

Webb gained tens of thousands of Twitter followers during and after Alabama's 42-14 win over Notre Dame on Monday to claim its third national championship in four seasons. For her part, the surprised beauty pageant queen isn't taking it too seriously.

"It's been actually kind of fun," the 23-year-old model and Miss Alabama USA 2012 told The Associated Press.

She said at the time it all started, she was oblivious in the stands, sitting near McCarron's mother. Her iPhone had died so she didn't know about the attention until friends seated nearby showed her what was happening on Twitter and pointed out that her picture was on TV.

"I just couldn't believe it," said Webb, who, according to her pageant biography, graduated with a business degree from Alabama rival Auburn University in 2011. "I was just in complete surprise."

Dee Dee Bonner, McCarron's mother, said the two laughed as Webb's Twitter count grew.

"We were like, 'Oh my God,'" Bonner said. "She said, 'All I want to do is date your son.' We've been laughing about it. It's quite shocking."

ESPN announcer Brent Musburger remarked that Webb was a beautiful woman as the cameras revisited her. "Wow, I'm telling you quarterbacks: You get all the good-looking women," he said.

Some found the remarks from the 73-year-old Musburger out of line. On Tuesday, ESPN released this statement: "We always try to capture interesting storylines and the relationship between an Auburn grad who is Miss Alabama and the current Alabama quarterback certainly met that test. However, we apologize that the commentary in this instance went too far and Brent understands that."

But Webb said Musburger's comments didn't bother her.

"It was kind of nice," she said. "I didn't look at it as creepy at all. For a woman to be called beautiful, I don't see how that's an issue."

As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, Webb had topped 175,000 Twitter followers, trumping McCarron's 114,000. Before the game, she reportedly had about 2,000.

Webb told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that she first encountered McCarron on Twitter, and they met in early December when he attended the Miss Alabama USA pageant in Montgomery. Her biography says she was born in Montgomery and grew up in Phenix City, but now lives in Los Angeles - though Bonner said she is considering moving back to Alabama to be with McCarron.

Before Monday's game, Webb tweeted a photo of herself wearing a jersey with McCarron's number, her arms wrapped around him.

Early Tuesday, Webb posted her first tweet to her new followers: "So extremely blessed... (at)10AJMcCarron. Congrats to Alabama and making history! (hash)BCSChamps."

Webb later said she doesn't think McCarron minds the attention on her.

But when Arizona Cardinals defensive end Darnell Dockett tweeted Webb his telephone number and suggested they meet after the game, McCarron responded, telling Dockett, "(hash)betterkeepdreaming like the rest of these dudes."

Rose, Sugar will host 1st semifinals in playoff: The first semifinal games in the new college football playoff system will be played in the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 2015.

The BCS conference commissioners announced the dates and rotation for all 12 years of the upcoming postseason format after a meeting in Key Biscayne on Monday, the day after the BCS championship game in Miami.

"It was not a one-year decision, it had to be a 12-year decision," BCS executive director Bill Hancock said. "Calendar issues, days of rest. Sugar and Rose were paired together because of the days of rest since they are playing the same day."

Whether they are hosting a semifinal or just a marquee bowl game, the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl will always be played on Jan. 1, or Jan. 2 in years in which New Year's Day falls on a Sunday. In the eight years in which the Rose and Sugar do not host the semifinals, the four playoff teams will kick off on New Year's Eve or Saturday, Dec. 30.

Either way there will be a triple-header of major college football games, two semifinals and four other marquee bowl games, on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day starting from the 2014 season to the 2025 season.

"Those days will belong to college football," Hancock said.

The Rose Bowl will also be the site of the last BCS championship game on Jan. 1, 2014.

The site of the first championship game in the new system is still to be picked, though Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, seems to be the front-runner. The title games will always be played on Mondays, at least seven days after the semifinals. The first one will be played Jan. 12, 2015.

The earliest the championship game will be played is Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. The latest the championship game will be played is Jan. 13, and that will happen twice, in 2020 and 2025.

In the second year of the playoff, the Orange Bowl will host a semifinal on Dec. 31, 2015, along with one of three other sites still to be determined.

The preference is to have three more sites in three times zones, and they are expected to be Atlanta (Chick-fil-A Bowl), Arlington, Texas (Cotton Bowl) and Glendale, Ariz. (Fiesta).

Hancock said the commissioners are on track to have those sites locked in by the end of their late April meetings in Pasadena. The site for the first championship game is expected to be chosen sooner.

"This was really a basic meeting," Hancock said. "The balls that are still in the air are the (selection) committee, protocol and structure, what we're going to call it."

It was a year ago in New Orleans that the commissioners had what was the first meeting that led to the end of the BCS as we know it and the implementation of the four-team playoff.

"When we met this date last year in New Orleans we all knew that we were going to embark on a very significant review and potential restructuring," Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive said.

With the calendar set, the sites coming into focus, the next big issue left is the selection committee.

"I think April will be the action month in a lot of respects," Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said.

The concept the commissioners are working with is about 18 people, mostly current college sports administrators, such as conference commissioners and athletic directors. Every conference and independent in major college football would be represented.

Delany said he hopes that by requiring the committee to emphasize strength of schedule it will force programs to rethink some of those cupcake games that inflate records. And that a couple of losses against good teams won't necessarily eliminate a team from playing in the four-team playoff

"It certainly has evolved in men's basketball," he said. "Everybody who is 20-10 doesn't get to the tournament. I think the new committee is sort of important to reinforce that. What they do in the first two, three, four years is going to really determine the messages that are being sent. The basketball committee has consistently sent the message that who you play and who you beat is more important than the record."

Title game's rating hurt by rout: The BCS title game's television rating was up from last season, but the lopsided score kept viewership down.

Alabama's 42-14 rout over Notre Dame drew a 15.1 fast national rating Monday on ESPN, the network said Tuesday. The 26.4 million viewers were up 9 percent from last year's game, another blowout Crimson Tide victory, 21-0 over LSU.

But that's down from the 27.3 million for ESPN's first BCS championship two years ago, Auburn's win over Oregon that was decided in the final seconds. This year's game posted the second-largest audience in cable history behind the 2011 championship.

The matchup between traditional powerhouses in Alabama and Notre Dame created the potential for a record-setting audience. But once the Crimson Tide went up 28-0 by halftime, viewers had reason to skip the second half. Ten previous BCS title games drew a higher rating.

Ratings represent the percentage of U.S. homes with televisions tuned into a program. The game was on in 17.5 percent of homes that get ESPN.

The first half was watched by 20.4 percent, significantly higher than 17.9 for Auburn-Oregon. Typically viewership increases throughout a game if it is competitive. But on Monday, the rating peaked between 9 and 9:30 p.m. EST - midway through the first half - and decreased from there as Alabama pulled away.

ESPN executives were hopeful of a massive audience but warned that it probably wouldn't happen without a close game. CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves acknowledged that reality at a media day Tuesday about the network's upcoming Super Bowl coverage.

"Hopefully we don't have a game like they had last night," he said.