BC-FBC--College Football Preview Package,ADVISORY

Editors:

To help you with your planning ahead of the college football season, we will have the following stories, photos and more in coming weeks, anchored by a special project surrounding the Top 25 poll, team and Power Five conference previews as well as two weekends of feature stories. This digest is subject to change and will be updated throughout the month of August. For questions, please call 212-621-1630 or email Ed Montes (emontes(at)ap.org) and Dave Zelio (dzelio(at)ap.org). All times Eastern.

DIGITAL NEWS EXPERIENCE

All the stories in this advisory as well as exclusive blog content, a weekly podcast and videos will be available through the College Football Digital News Experience, which is a fully curated digital presentation focused entirely on AP's college football coverage and anchored around the marquee AP Top 25 poll. The site, which is responsive to all devices, is available for free and even pays a revenue share to participating sites. The DNE allows for local customization of the site logo, navigation bar, highlighted teams and other features, including embeddable widgets around the poll and Latest News. Some examples: http://collegefootball.ap.org/lufkindailynews and http://collegefootball.ap.org/wvgazette. Contact your local sales representative or Barry Bedlan at bbedlan(at)ap.org to take advantage of this free digital offering.

TOP 25 POLL

The 2016 preseason AP Top 25 will be released on Sunday, Aug. 21, at 2 p.m. The weekly poll will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 6, and will then be sent every Sunday at 2 p.m. through the regular season. The final poll will be sent roughly an hour after the national championship game the evening of Monday, Jan. 9, in Tampa, Florida.

AP SPORTS EXTRA - PRESEASON POLL PAGE

A paginated look at the preseason AP Top 25 poll will be available shortly after the poll is released on Aug. 21. The AP Sports Extra pages are available in full broadsheet, half broadsheet and tabloid size (perfect for your preseason football tab). They will include space for local advertising or content. The pages will focus on the 25 teams selected by AP poll voters with emphasis on those at the very top. The pages are available at no charge to all AP Sports subscribers. Contact your local sales representative or Barry Bedlan at bbedlan(at)ap.org for more information.

ONLY ON AP

For the first time, AP has tabulated every single one of its weekly college football polls since the first was released 80 years ago. That research has been used to determine an all-time rankings list and other stories, including an eight-part series looking at the top teams of each decade. A separate advisory on this package is also moving on AP wires.

FBC--T25-AP POLL AT 80

To look back, all the way back, to the first Top 25 college football poll is to take a walk through history. The great teams at Notre Dame and Army, at Oklahoma and Alabama, the coaching greats like Bud Wilkinson and Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, Lou Holtz and Nick Saban. For the first time, The Associated Press has sorted through all those polls - all 1,103 of them - to determine the top 100 programs of all time after eight decades of arguing who's the best. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos on Aug. 2 at 2 p.m.

With:

FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL -THE TOP 100-LIST

The Top 100 college football teams of all time as determined by The Associated Press Top 25. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING: 2,500 words. Capsules on the best 25 teams, then a list of the remaining 75 on Aug. 2 at 2 p.m. Will be featured on special page of the College Football DNE.

FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL -THE NO. 1s-LIST

All 44 teams ranked No. 1 at least once over the 80 years, with capsules that include the overall top team for each school. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING: 2,000 words, photos on Aug. 4.

Also:

FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL-1930s-40s

The Associated Press college football poll was created to try to answer the simplest yet most divisive question in sports: Who's better? The poll helped give a regional sport more of a national scope. The poll helped define the Army-Notre Dame rivalry in the 1940s and was part of their games becoming major events. By John Kekis. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos on Aug. 14.

FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL-1950s

By the 1950s, college football's power has drifted away from the elite Eastern schools and into the Midwest. Bud Wilkinson's Oklahoma dynasty dominated the polls as it set a record winning streak that still stands. By College Football Writer Eric Olson. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos on Aug. 15.

FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL-1960s

The focus on the national championship race and the polls reached new heights in the 1960s, with a peak in 1966 when the matchup of No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Michigan State late in the season ended in a famous 10-10 tie. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos on Aug. 16.

FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL-1970s

Coaching icons dominated the AP poll during the 1970s with Bear Bryant at Alabama, Joe Paterno at Penn State, Woody Hayes at Ohio State, Bo Schembechler at Michigan, Barry Switzer at Oklahoma and Tom Osborne at Nebraska. Their matchups would often help determine No. 1. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos on Aug. 17.

FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL-1980s

A new dynasty emerges at Miami, where the brash Hurricanes upend the established Midwestern powers, with pro-style offenses and speedy defenses that smother option football. It takes a little while for AP poll voters to catch up to the power shift, but when they do, Miami becomes a fixture. By Tim Reynolds. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos on Aug. 22.

FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL-1990s

Controversial championships, sometimes with the AP poll breaking one way and the coaches' poll going another, prompt the bowls and conferences to start working toward a more definitive way to determine the national title. Eventually, it becomes the BCS. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos on Aug. 23.

FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL-2000s

The first half of the decade is dominated by USC's unprecedented run at No. 1, but then the SEC takes over. The overlap produces the last split national champion with the Trojans taking the AP title and LSU winning the BCS. The constant controversy leads to the AP asking out of the BCS process. By David Brandt. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos on Aug. 24.

FBC--T25-ALL-TIME AP POLL-2010s

A new power emerges in Oregon, a rarity for college football. But an old one in Alabama dominates as Nick Saban reigns. AP voters are asked to judge a changing brand of football that is played fast and furious and often without a lot of defense. By John Zenor UPCOMING: 700 words, photos on Aug. 25.

CONFERENCE AND TEAM PREVIEWS

Each of the following will move in a `things to watch' chunky text format of approximately 700 words, with photos.

Team previews:

All previews for Power Five conference schools, BYU, Notre Dame and the service academies will move on Aug. 12.

Conference previews:

Aug 8: SEC, Pac-12

Aug. 9: Big Ten, Atlantic Coast

Aug 11: Big 12, Mountain West

Aug. 12: American Athletic, Sun Belt, Conference USA, Mid-American

SHAREABLE CONTENT

Every Wednesday until the regular season, AP will offer a FBC--PICK SIX story from July 13 until Aug. 31.

- FBC--Pick Six-SEC-Pivotal Players. SENT: 700 words, photos on July 13.

- FBC--Pick Six-Pac-12-Pivotal-Players. SENT: 700 words, photos on July 20.

- FBC--Pick Six-Big 12-Pivotal Players. SENT: 700 words, photos on July 27.

PLAYOFF PULSE PODCAST

Posted Wednesday evenings on top topics of the day. All podcasts can be accessed via the College Football DNE blog at http://collegefootball.ap.org/ap-now-college-football and through your locally branded version of the DNE.

PREVIEW PACKAGE FOR AUG. 6-7 WEEKEND

FBC--SEC SCHEDULING

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The SEC gets plenty of criticism each year for essentially taking a week off in November to play some scuffling teams. It makes up for it with a high-powered opening lineup that is particularly noteworthy this year, including Alabama-USC, Ole Miss-Florida State, Auburn-Clemson, Texas A&M-UCLA and LSU-Wisconsin. Does frontloading the nonconference schedule help the SEC impress the playoff committee and boost its national perception? By Steve Megargee. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos by noon Aug. 5.

FBC--HARBAUGH'S NEXT ACT

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - He's slept at recruit's houses, had his wife mock his $8 khakis and taken his team on the road for camp, rankling the SEC and forcing the NCAA to take a stand. There may be no louder voice in college football. But what's happening behind the scenes makes Harbaugh much more than a meme. By Larry Lage. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos by noon Aug. 5.

FBC--HEISMAN HYPE

Leonard Fournette. Christian McCaffrey. Deshaun Watson. Baker Mayfield. Four of the top six vote-getters from last year's Heisman race are back, giving this fall's competition for college football's top honor plenty of intrigue. By David Brandt. UPCOMING: 800 words by noon Aug. 6.

FBC--HELTON'S HOLLYWOOD

LOS ANGELES - Clay Helton, USC coach, is not Hollywood. The longtime assistant was a surprising choice to go from interim coach to simply coach of a program that is one of college football's crown jewels but has been unable to recapture its greatness under former Pete Carroll assistants, Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian. The hope is that Helton can provide stability if not flash, but he also starts the season with a two-game losing streak and an opener against defending national champion Alabama. By Greg Beacham. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos by noon Aug. 7.

PREVIEW PACKAGE FOR AUG. 13-14 WEEKEND

FBC--GOING INDEPENDENT

UMass is going it alone this season, its first as a football independent since essentially being booted out of the Mid-American Conference. New Mexico State and Idaho have faced similar decisions recently, too - to go independent and stay in the Bowl Subdivision or drop to the FCS. New Mexico State is staying. Idaho will be going. When you aren't Notre Dame, there are a lot of pros and cons to independence. By College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo. UPCOMING: 780 words, photos by 5 a.m. Aug. 13.

FBC--YEAR OF THE RUNNING BACK

It's another year of the running back in college football. LSU's Leonard Fournette, Stanford's Christian McCaffrey, Oregon's Royce Freeman and Florida State's Dalvin Cook all are back after rushing for over 1,800 yards last season. The talent at running back is so loaded that guys such as Tennessee's Jalen Hurd and North Carolina's Elijah Hood - who would be boldface names in any other year - are relatively under the radar. By Steve Megargee. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos by noon Aug. 13.

FBC--CHASING BEAR

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Nick Saban is one national title away from matching Bear Bryant's record and, with his 65th birthday coming up on Halloween, shows no signs of slowing down. By John Zenor. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos. By noon Aug. 14.

FBC--RUGBY-STYLE TACKLING

LINCOLN, Neb. - Rugby-style tackling, which positions the defender's head to the side of the ball-carrier rather than straight-on, is growing in popularity in a sport beleaguered by concussion concerns. The Seattle Seahawks were the first team to teach the technique, with Ohio State following last season. Nebraska, among others, is the latest program coaching rugby-style technique. By College Football Writer Eric Olson. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos by noon Aug. 14.

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