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Weekly BCS Countdown Program Begins Sunday, Oct. 10

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

ESPN's weekly BCS Countdown program - featuring the exclusive announcement of the weekly Bowl Championship Series standings each Sunday from Oct. 17 to Dec. 5 - will begin with a special preview edition Sunday, Oct. 10. The 75-minute program will air every week at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN and continue on ESPNU at 9 p.m. (except Nov. 21, when an hourlong edition will air on ESPN at 6 p.m.). The program will include the exclusive announcement of the 25 teams in the weekly BCS standings, in-depth analysis and discussion from the sport's preeminent analysts, potential impact of upcoming games, interviews with college football coaches, players and dignitaries, and more.

Rece Davis - announcer for the ESPN College Football Primetime Thursday night game and host of ESPN's daylong Saturday studio coverage -- will host the new program. ESPN's deep roster of knowledgeable and experienced analysts will provide expert insight, discussion and debate, including weekly appearances by Kirk Herbstreit, Craig James and Robert Smith. Additional ESPN analysts contributing throughout the season include Todd Blackledge, Mark May, Lou Holtz, Jesse Palmer, Ed Cunningham and more.

Brad Edwards - an expert at predicting BCS standings and a seasonlong analyst on College GameDay on ESPN Radio - will provide insight on the position of teams and what has to occur for position shifts in the standings.

BCS Countdown will include:

• The exclusive announcement of the 25 teams in the weekly BCS standings. The top 10 teams will be revealed in ascending order through a new interactive ESPN EBoard touchscreen technology designed specifically for the show. The touchscreen will feature a blank spot for each team in the top 10 with a logo for the team being revealed in its corresponding spot in the standings when the spot is touched.

The ESPN EBoard will include four rows, one representing the actual BCS standings and three more to reflect the standings of ESPN analysts each week. The logos can be moved around on the screen by touch during discussion and debate about which analyst's standings are correct.

• ESPN's top analysts discussing their thoughts on the game outcomes that affected the BCS for that week and potentially the remainder of the season.

• A discussion of the games that could impact the BCS standings for the upcoming week.

• An interview with a coach of a top program, such as someone who leads a team that moved up or down the standings for that week.

• A new weekly segment, Issues, will feature James and Smith answering multiple questions related to the BCS in rapid succession within two minutes. Each analyst will have the opportunity to express whether he has an issue with one answer from the opposing analyst. The analysts will discuss and debate the answer in question at the end of the two minutes. Questions will be gathered from multiple sources, including fans via social media, ESPN research staff, other analysts, members of the media, etc.

• A fact about the BCS using key numbers that pertain to it, such as the average place in the final BCS standings of a team that was first in Week 1, and a particular week in which a top-five team has lost through every year of the BCS.

• The debut of the weekly Heismanology segment, which will feature ESPN commentator Joe Tessitore taking a look at the leading Heisman Trophy candidates each week.

ESPN - the exclusive carrier of the entire BCS -- will offer the most extensive coverage ever leading up to and through the five-game bowl event with programming across multiple domestic and international television outlets, radio, Internet, digital platforms and more. As part of ESPNU's seasonlong coverage, the 24-hour college sports network will offer a weekly one-hour original BCS Countdown featuring analysis, discussion and a preview and breakdown of the BCS every Monday at 6 p.m.

ESPN will televise all five Bowl Championship Series games - the Rose Bowl Game (Jan. 1 at 5 p.m.), Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (Jan. 1 at 8:30 p.m.), Discover Orange Bowl (Jan. 3 at 8:30 p.m.), Allstate Sugar Bowl (Jan. 4 at 8:30 p.m.) and Tostitos BCS National Championship Game (Jan. 10 at 8:30 p.m.) - for the first time as part of agreements with the BCS and the Rose Bowl Game. ESPN Radio will continue to broadcast all five BCS Bowl games. ESPN 3D, ESPN's newest network and the first 3D network to launch in the industry, will televise the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game in 3D.