AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Mack Brown begged and pleaded for his team to get into the Bowl Championship Series.

Looks like it worked.

Texas is headed to the Rose Bowl to play Michigan after squeaking past California in Sunday’s final BCS standings to grab an at-large berth in the four big-money bowl games.

Although Cal was ranked ahead of Texas in both polls Sunday, the Longhorns were close enough that when combined with the computer rankings, it was enough to leapfrog the Golden Bears.

It will be the first BCS and Rose Bowl appearance for Texas (10-1). Michigan (9-2), which already knew it was in by virtue of its shared Big Ten title with Iowa, will be in Pasadena, Calif., for the second straight year.

Texas, which plays in the Big 12, needed some late help to earn a trip West.

After his team ended its regular season with a win over Texas A&M on Nov. 26, Brown publicly pleaded with voters in The Associated Press media poll and USA Today/ESPN coaches poll to give the Longhorns the boost they needed to get into the BCS.

The Longhorns trailed California by a mere .0013 in last week’s BCS standings. The Golden Bears’ 26-16 in over Southern Mississippi on Saturday night failed to impress enough voters to keep them ahead of Texas.

“As happy as we are today, I really feel sorry for Cal,” Brown told ABC. “Cal is a great football team. The system doesn’t work and we understand that …. We’ll keep working at this system where teams like Cal will be playing in the BCS. But I’m so happy for the kids at Texas because they deserve to be there.”

The snub was sure to be a bitter blow to Cal coach Jeff Tedford and his players, who were on the verge of the school’s first Rose Bowl berth since 1959.

“We’re obviously very, very disappointed,” Tedford said. “If you have to go in and try to blow people out, I don’t think that serves the integrity of the game. It’s not about one game, it’s about a season.”

For Texas, the Rose Bowl is a BCS bid that’s been a long time coming.

Texas missed out in 2001 when the third-ranked Longhorns lost to Colorado in the Big 12 title game. Last year, Kansas State’s upset of Oklahoma in the conference championship again bumped the Longhorns down to the Holiday Bowl.

And while the Longhorns’ good fortune will be sure to cause some arguing about an already controversial system, a Texas-Michigan matchup on New Year’s Day is one college football purists will appreciate.

Michigan (842) and Texas (786) rank No. 1 and No. 4 respectively, among the winningest programs in college football history and boast of deep and proud traditions.

Michigan shared the Big Ten title because it ended the regular season on Nov. 20 with a 37-21 upset loss at rival Ohio State.

The Wolverines are led by the freshmen backfield duo of quarterback Chad Henne and tailback Mike Hart.

Hart’s 124.7 yards rushing per game ranks ninth in the nation and Henne was the first freshman quarterback to start a season-opener at Michigan since 1975.

Texas, which lost 12-0 to Oklahoma back on Oct. 9, has reeled off six straight wins behind the running of Heisman Trophy contender Cedric Benson, the No. 6 career rusher in Division I-A history with 5,470 yards.

Texas is No. 6 in the AP poll. Michigan is No. 13.

AP-ES-12-05-04 1802EST