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The game, featuring two preseason Top 10 squads, will be produced by ESPN and marks the network's first 3D broadcast after more than two years of research. ESPN plans to use separate production trucks, technical crews, and commentators for the 3D telecast. Mark Jones and Bob Davie are set to call the 3D game, while the team of Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, and Lisa Salters will handle duties for ESPN and ESPN HD.

"The results of this research will enable ESPN to quantify what it takes to produce, transmit, and enable the 3D experience for our fans," ESPN Vice President of Emerging Technologies Anthony Bailey said in a statement.

But the 3D views won't be available to everyone through their home television. Instead, the game will be shown in 3D at the Galen Center on USC's campus, as well as theaters in Columbus, Ohio; Hartford, Conn.; and Hurst, Texas.

According to Broadcasting & Cable, the game will be shot using seven cameras located on the opposite sideline from the standard broadcast. The network plans to use several low-angle shots that are particularly effective in 3D, but will also maintain a traditional high camera location.

"You still need to present the game to the fan the way the fan is used to seeing the game," Bailey told Broadcasting & Cable. "You still have to set up the high shot so the fan can get a feel for what's going on.

"We're going to learn a lot from this, not only in the theaters, but to show what consumers could have at their house and what the appetite of consumers would be to wear [3D] glasses to watch television at night," he continues. "That will probably decide whether it will be mainstream and come to the home, or stays a big-event, in-the-theater type of thing."

While the game will mark ESPN's first foray into the 3D world, it won't be the first time a football game has been broadcast in such a way. The NFL previously used a 3D broadcast for a game between the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders, and the 2009 BCS Championship Game was produced in 3D through a deal between Sony Electronics and Fox Sports. The Los Angeles Times' Diane Pucin was at a theater for that production, and offers a warning for anyone considering taking in this year's 3D game.

"Make sure you record the game if you have a high definition television," she writes. "Having gone to a theater to watch the 2009 BCS championship game in 3D, I felt I had really missed the game because of jerky cameras, unusual angles and just a general sense that it was an experiment with kinks not worked out."

Fanhouse's Tom Mantzouranis also took in the title game in 3D. He says that while the technology isn't yet perfect, it has potential.

"Set from the point of view of the offensive and defensive backfields, the replays gave you a true sense of how plays develop," he writes. "With the way the bodies were stacked and layered, you could see blocking assignments clear, zone defenses form, and routes develop. We've all heard the broadcasting cliche about a running back 'getting to the second level.' Well, with this technology, that second level is real, and you're on it."

While the instant replay coverage was a plus, Mantzouranis believes some of the in-game footage still needs some work.

"The live action coverage needs some ironing out--the cameras had trouble keeping up with the speed of the game, and the broadcast featured a lot of low-angled shots, meaning that while it felt like you were really on the field, you got the bad end of that too by missing a good view of plays on the near sideline," he writes.

Mike Phelps is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management.