AP College Football Top 25 Poll Week 4

The 10-city ESPN Gridiron Blowout Tour visits college football marquee match-ups where fans can watch ESPN college football coverage in the Nissan Lounge, a viewing space equipped with comfortable couches and flat screen televisions. Fans also get to play games and even get the chance to win an all-expense paid trip for two to the Heisman Trophy presentation - a reception for esteemed Heisman recipients and candidates as well as key members from the Heisman Foundation and National Football League.

As sole presenting sponsor of the Heisman Trophy, Nissan invites fans to log on http://www.theheismanvote.com where they can cast their vote for their favorite college football stars. Last year, a staggering 16,183,682 fan votes were cast to dictate the fans’ one vote for the Heisman. Computer voting kiosks also will be displayed at the ESPN Gridiron Blowout Tour so fans can easily access the site at tour stops. Additionally, in-game Heisman Trophy vignettes that highlight Nissan’s involvement in college football and feature the history of the Heisman Trophy, will be showcased alongside the Heisman Trophy itself, giving fans access and the opportunity to have their picture taken with the most venerable trophy in sports.

Part of Nissan’s extended relationship with ESPN The Magazine includes custom-produced stories about the Heisman that will air on ESPN. Nissan also will continue to work with the magazine to create customized Heisman insertions throughout college football season, the ESPN Gridiron Blowout Tour and Heisman Trophy promotions.

“Nissan is dedicated to college football and our continued relationship with ESPN is an ongoing expression of that,” says Steve Kerho, director, Media & Interactive Marketing for Nissan. “College football embodies true strength and enduring performance, a perfect alignment to the Nissan brand. Through this multi-layered collaboration, we can build overall brand awareness in college football and reach our target audience at multiple touch points.”

The ESPN Gridiron Blowout Tour will make the following game stops:

– Georgia at Alabama on September 22, 2007
– Louisville at NC State on September 29, 2007
– Virginia Tech at Clemson on October 6, 2007
– Louisville at Cincinnati on October 13, 2007
– Miami at FSU on October 20, 2007
– Ole Miss at Auburn on October 27, 2007
– Texas A&M at Oklahoma on November 3, 2007
– USC at California on November 10, 2007
– Missouri at Kansas State on November 17, 2007
– Texas at Texas A&M on November 23, 2007

For more information on the ESPN Gridiron Blowout Tour, go to:

https://r.espn.go.com/espn/contests/theheismanvote/gridirontour

Southern California received 62 of 65 first-place votes and 1,622 points from a panel of media members. USC easily outdistanced No. 2 LSU in the poll released Saturday. The Tigers received two first-place votes and 1,511 points. They haven’t started a season ranked this high since 1959, when they were preseason No. 1.

No. 3 West Virginia received the other first-place vote. The Mountaineers have never been ranked higher in the preseason. No. 4 Texas and Michigan round out the top five, and defending champion Florida is sixth.

USC has been the country’s top program since 2002, going 59-6 with two national championships and a near-miss. This season, the Trojans expect to walk away from the BCS national championship game in New Orleans with the crystal football.

“That’s what we’re here for. We’re here to do it better than anybody has ever done it before,” Carroll said. “That’s the single thought. That’s what drives us. If that’s the case, you want to be No. 1 forever.”

For the Trojans, this is the 82nd time they’ve been No. 1 in the poll. Only Notre Dame (95), Oklahoma (95) and Ohio State (88) have more.

Much of the Trojans’ time at No. 1 has been since late in 2003, when they took the top spot at the end of the regular season and finished No. 1 the AP poll — despite being left out of the national title game. LSU finished No. 1 in the coaches’ poll.

The next season USC became the second team, joining Florida State in 1999, to be No. 1 all the way and was the undisputed national champ.

The next season, USC nearly pulled the wire-to-wire trick again, but Vince Young and Texas relegated the Trojans to No. 2 in the end by winning a 41-38 thriller in the Rose Bowl.

Last season, USC was in the top 10 all season, but never did get to No. 1. The Trojans were No. 2 going into the final week of the regular season, but with a chance to play for another national title they lost 13-9 to UCLA.

USC bounced back with a resounding 32-18 victory over Michigan in the Rose Bowl and that set the stage for the Trojans to start this season as an overwhelming No. 1.

The rest of the top 10 has Wisconsin at No. 7, followed by Oklahoma, Virginia Tech and Louisville.

Ohio State, last year’s preseason No. 1 and the loser of the national title game to Florida, is No. 11 to start the 2007 season. No. 12 is California, followed by Georgia, UCLA and Tennessee.

No. 16 Rutgers is ranked in the preseason for the first time, as is No. 23 Hawaii.

Penn State is No. 17 and Auburn, Florida State and Nebraska round out the top 20. Arkansas, TCU, Hawaii, Boise State and Texas A&M are the final five.

The Southeastern Conference has six ranked teams, most of any league. The Big Ten and Big 12 are next with four and the Pac-10 and Big East have three each.

The Trojans are preseason No. 1 for the sixth time overall, tying Nebraska for third most. Only Oklahoma (nine) and Ohio State (seven) have been top-ranked in the preseason by AP more often.

These Trojans have another star quarterback in John David Booty, who could become the third USC passer to win the Heisman Trophy in the past six seasons, joining predecessors Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart.

“He’s a natural-born quarterback,” Carroll said. “He’s got five years of experience. He’s been through everything you need to be good.”

Booty should have plenty of options, with about a half-dozen high school all-American running backs on the roster and a slew fast and talented receivers. But it’s the defense that makes this USC team special.

The Trojans have potential All-Americans all over the field, and perhaps the nation’s best linebackers in Brian Cushing, Keith Rivers and Rey Maualuga.

“They’re big and fast and smart and they know what they’re doing and they love to play the game,” Carroll said.

Up front, defensive end Lawrence Jackson and tackle Sedrick Ellis are the stars. In the secondary, Terrell Thomas is a lock-down cornerback and sophomore Taylor Mays has drawn comparisons to such great USC safeties of the past as Dennis Smith and Troy Polamalu.

How good can this defense be? Just ask Michigan, which had its vaunted offense smothered in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 1.

“We have a lot of experience and tremendous speed,” Carroll said. “We’ll find out how good they are when we start playing.”

If USC is as good as most believe, chasing down the Trojans could be too much to ask.

Notre Dame Football 2007 Irish QBs In Action

FSG, which began its partnership with Boston College (BC) in 2005, oversees a comprehensive sports marketing program for BC designed to enhance and extend the regional and national profile of BC Athletics. The multi- faceted program includes building out the school’s network of regional media partners, forging new regional and national corporate sponsorship relationships and national fan activation programs.

“A key marketing mission of Boston College Athletics is to raise awareness for our teams and our athletes on a regional and national level,” said Gene DeFilippo, Boston College Athletics Director. “This awareness allows us to forge new relationships with corporate brands and connect with our extensive and loyal alumni base across the country.

“In two short seasons, Fenway Sports Group has made our mission a reality by working closely with the Athletic Department to design and implement a strategic program that has become a model in the industry. We are pleased by the progress and look forward to working with FSG in the years ahead as we extend this relationship through 2019.”

“Boston College is one of the premier brands in collegiate sports and we are excited to continue and extend our relationship with them,” said Mike Dee, President, Fenway Sports Group. “Since the beginning of our engagement, the FSG team has been relentlessly focused on building and extending the BC Athletics brand on the national stage. Our work is not done, but this commitment illustrates that we are moving in the right direction.”

As part of the announcement, FSG expanded its account team that services Boston College Athletics appointing Matt Murrey as Vice President, Sponsorship Sales, Boston College and promoting BriAnne Bruni to Director, Client Services, Boston College.

“We are excited to add a person of Matt’s caliber to the FSG team,” Dee said. “Matt’s sales experience and track record for developing new relationships will provide invaluable expertise to our sales team as we secure new sponsor relationships for the BC Athletics Department.”

“BriAnne Bruni has been with FSG for two seasons, starting as an intern in 2005-06. While she continues to excel in her role working with sponsors, she will take on additional responsibility in supporting the growth of Boston College sponsorship revenue.”

Murrey will be responsible for managing BC’s portfolio of integrated sports marketing and sponsorship programs for the Boston College Athletic Department, primarily focusing on driving new sponsorship revenue. Murrey has more than 20 years of sales experience and for the last four years he was the Vice President, Global Business Development at PFPC. In his role, he oversaw sales and business development functions for the healthcare and insurance market segments.

Bruni will continue to manage the day-to-day relationship. Bruni’s duties include marketing services, managing BC’s in-game promotion and marketing programs and overseeing sponsor relations and sponsor activation initiatives.

Cotton Bowl Athletic Association chairman Bruce Gadd declined to reveal details of the contract with the Cowboys, but said it will last more than a decade.

“This is one of the most important decisions in the 71-year history of the AT&T Cotton Bowl,” Gadd said in a statement. “Moving the Classic preserves the Classic’s legacy and, at the same time, secures its future as one of college football’s best postseason bowl games.”

Backers want to get the Cotton Bowl into the Bowl Championship Series mix and make it the future location of a national title game.

The move was approved by a voice vote during a somber regular meeting of the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association board of directors, Gadd said. He said no negative votes were voiced, although some board members may have declined to vote.

“There were tears in the room,” he said. “When it was over it was unanimous, and there was some applause. … It was a move we had to make. There was not one incident of someone standing up and saying maybe we shouldn’t do this.”

The first game at the new venue in Arlington, located between Dallas and Fort Worth, will be New Year’s Day, 2010.

Plans for the $1 billion stadium, scheduled to open in 2009, include a retractable roof that would cover a hole similar to the one at Texas Stadium in Irving.

A domed stadium is important to bowl game officials because of Dallas’ sometimes cold January weather. Gadd said weather was a key factor that kept the Cotton Bowl from being included in the BCS when the postseason format was adopted in 1994.

“As anyone can imagine, this decision was difficult, but after completing our due diligence, we determined that a move to the new stadium would remove all weather concerns, keep us competitive in a changing college postseason landscape and provide a world-class facility for our partners, the players and fans,” Gadd said.

The game, first played in 1937, has always been held at the Cotton Bowl, which opened in 1932. The stadium is also home to the annual Texas-Oklahoma and Grambling State-Prairie View A&M games, which are surrounded by the State Fair of Texas. Both are under contract there through 2010.

“We have no plans beyond that,” said Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds, who has called the fair the basis of the Texas-OU tradition and the reason for playing it in Dallas.

Gadd said the New Year’s Day game name won’t change because it is trademarked by the association.

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