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BE THE AD: Season Preview Show!


Rece: "Welcome to the College Football Season Preview. I'm Rece Davis, and I'm joined as always by Lou Holtz and Mark May. The College GameDay crew will be with us as well to preview the major conferences. With the playoff expanding from 16 to 24 and including all conference winners for the first time, the road to the title game seems to be changed for the better. Everyone has a chance, and for the first time, everyone enters fall dreaming of the crystal football. But some of those dreams are more realistic than others. Gentlemen, we remember the final last year when Ohio State knocked off Alabama in New Orleans. This year, Indianapolis and Lucas Oil Stadium is the destination, and just about everyone has a dream."

Mark: "And that's the beauty of automatic bids, Rece. We see it in basketball; the winners of confernces cause chaos in the early going. You have to navigate many obstacles to get to the top, and who knows? I guarantee that a small school like a Louisiana-Lafayette or a Southern Miss beating a big name in the playoff can make them for years to come."

Lou: "And with 13 at-large bids, which is up from 10, a school like a Notre Dame or a Penn State doesn't have to worry about too few chairs to go around. Their path is as clear as anyone else's."

Rece: "And that is critical, Lou. The expanded playoffs mean everyone has a better chance to make the post-season, either through the tournament or through one of 14 bowl games in locations from Miami to El Paso, from Boise to Shreveport. Overall, over 50 teams will get that extra game to show off over the holidays, with some of them making their way to a shot at the National title. But before we begin, let's look back at the season that was last year."

Highlights of last year include: Georgia Southern's huge upset over Georgia Tech in Week 1; Oregon setting a new record with 600 passing yards against Eastern Washington; Missouri upsetting Oklahoma as the fans stormed the field; a Hail Mary completion allowing Duke to defeat previously unbeaten Virginia Tech; the SEC championship being won by Alabama in double overtime over Georgia; Fresno State stunning Colorado State in the Mountain West championship on a Pick Six; the uproar over 12-0 Southern Mississippi missing out on the playoff; a 14 over 3 as Arkansas upsets Michigan; and the final, where Alabama's last-second field goal goes wide right as Ohio State wins 26-24.

Rece: "And it was Southern Miss's season that prompted the expanded playoffs, and we have to applaud the college football czar for making that change, as it's opened an opportunity that did not exist for the then-number 12 team in the nation. But other than the new playoffs, what most excites you this season?"

Mark: "I love the ambitious scheduling a lot of major schools have taken. You've got Texas playing Penn State, Notre Dame playing Oklahoma, Nebraska has Florida State, Miami is going to Auburn, Pitt and Michigan, Virginia Tech against Penn State -- this is all in August and September, Rece! We're going to find out a lot about who the top teams really are, and this year, we may not see an unbeaten team."

Lou: "I love the kickoff game on Wednesday night. You're not going to see teams that will likely challenge for the playoff. But the fact that you have teams willing to start early so that they can celebrate the season -- that is what college football is all about to me."

Rece: "For me, I'm looking forward to the Rivalry Week. This is another new addition, in that a lot of rivals have agreed to move their game to the back of the season. Now you get a chance to go out on a high no matter how your season has gone. A lot of good TV is going to happen in that 15th week. Folks, when we come back, we'll be joined by the College GameDay crew to discuss the 11 conferences and our picks for the National Championship. Don't go away."

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