[jwplayer mediaid=”161841″]In 1975 a spirited yet unlikely football player, Rudy Ruettiger, helped the Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in a stunning victory – and in 1993 Sean Astin starred in the film adaptation of Ruettiger’s inspirational story, appropriately entitled “Rudy”.  Now, in 2014, ESPN has teamed up with Astin to reimagine the final locker room speech to usher in the dawn of the new College Football Playoff – a long held dream of every college football fan, including Rudy.

The scene, filmed at St. Joseph High School in Brooklyn, New York, goes back in time and features Rudy explaining his dream – that one day, college football would have its very own playoff.  “Rudy” then goes on to describe how the system will look, to his slightly befuddled teammates.  While the reception to his idea falls somewhat flat – especially when he explains that it won’t go into effect until 2014 –  the humorous piece deftly explains what the process will be as fans look to the upcoming season.

“Fans have wanted a playoff for a long time,” said Aaron Taylor, senior vice president of marketing at ESPN.  “It’s here, and they’re ready – if not fully knowledgeable about how it’s going to work.  We want to make sure that fans understand the College Football Playoff, because we know that with greater understanding comes greater excitement.  This concept from Wieden + Kennedy works on so many levels – we immediately fell in love with it.  We appreciate that Sean was willing to don a football uniform and get back into character to help us pull it off.”

The video, launching today, will be used primarily online via ESPN’s digital and social media channels.  Wieden + Kennedy New York was the creative agency.

ESPN will have exclusive coverage of the College Football Playoff that will begin with the 2014-2015 season and feature the four top teams as selected by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. The Rose Bowl presented by Northwestern Mutual and the Sugar Bowl will host the first Playoff Semifinals, which will pit No. 1 versus No. 4 and No. 2 versus No. 3 on January 1, 2015. The winners of those two games will face off in the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on January 12, 2015.