Daily World wire services
Allow extra travel time
The road to Pullman got a bit longer for people on the west side of the state coming to Saturday’s football game between Washington State and Oregon.
That is because there is a 32-mile detour just east of Othello on State Route 26.
The 32-mile detour uses State Routes 17, 260 and U.S. Highway 395, and adds about 14 miles and 15 additional minutes to the trip, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation website.
The closure is to make bridge repairs and was originally scheduled to be done next spring, in part because of fall football games, but state DOT said in its post that the “the bridge deck is deteriorating more quickly, prompting WSDOT bridge engineers to move the work to this fall.”
The detour started Monday and is expected to be in place until Thanksgiving.
GameDay Location
Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard and Rece Davis will set up shop directly infront of Martin Stadium Saturday when “ESPN College GameDay” makes its debut on the Washington State campus Saturday morning.
ESPN has announced the location of Saturday’s show, which will be held in conjunction with 25th-ranked Washington State’s game against No. 12 Oregon at 4:30 p.m. in Pullman.
The set will be constructed on the corner of Stadium Way and Ferdinand’s Lane, across the streetfrom Martin Stadium and the iconic bronze Cougar Pride statue. Viewers will be able to see both the stadium and statue in the backdrop.
Three weeks ago, when the Cougars hosted Utah, the Pac-12 Networks used the same location to host its pregame and postgame shows, setting up a set on the grass field that’s right next to theSchool of Molecular Biosciences and directly across the street from the RV tailgate parking lot.
“College GameDay” will be holding its 354th show in Pullman this Saturday. The 2018 season is alsothe 15th year WSU alum Tom Pounds has waved his Ol’ Crimson flag behind the set of the ESPN show.
“I think it’s pretty good with the flag tradition that we have, I think it’s pretty important with that,”Cougars coach Mike Leach said Monday during a news conference. “I think it’s overdue and I think we’re excited to have it and our students are certainly excited to have it and as a team, it’s kind of business as usual. But I think it’s a good opportunity for our fans and a good showcase for our university and our team.”
Klay gets call
It appears that Klay Thompson is getting the call.
On Wednesday night ESPN play-by-play man Dave Pasch announced that Thompson would be the celebrity picker for ESPN’s College GameDay Saturday in Pullman.
Pasch dropped the information while calling the NBA’s Phoenix Suns-Dallas Mavericks game on ESPN.
So the ESPN announcer on Mavs-Suns just said Klay Thompson would be the celebrity picker. Not a surprise, but had that been announced?
Thompson played basketball at WSU from 2008-11. He now plays for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
Pullman issues emergency declaration to deal with crowd
Tens of thousands of people are expected to be in Pullman Saturday for ESPN College GameDay’s first visit to Washington State, and the subsequent Pac-12 North battle between the 12th-ranked Oregon Ducks and 25th-ranked WSU Cougars.
To deal with the congestion, Pullman City Council approved an “emergency declaration” that will allow Pullman Transit buses to transport Washington State fans and College GameDay attendees through campus on Saturday.
According to Pullman Radio News, the emergency declaration was brought forth to the Pullman City Council, and approved, Tuesday evening. The news outlet is reporting that WSU requested additional buses from the city after the school was unable to locate private bus services.
ESPN College GameDay producer Chris “The Bear” Fallica told Pullman Radio News this is the first time the show has caused an emergency declaration. GameDay has been broadcasting on college campuses since 1993.
President offers up rooms in residence
Few beds, couches and spare futons will go unused this week, as thousands of WSU fans from around the country flock to Pullman for the festivities.
There won’t be any empty bedrooms inside the home of school president Kirk Schulz, either.
Schulz and wife Noel have offered up space inside the presidential mansion to guests this weekend in order to free up hotel rooms for members of the ESPN College GameDay crew, which announced Saturday evening it would be coming to Pullman for the first time in school history.
Noel Schulz told The Spokesman-Review on Wednesday that six people had accepted offers to stay in the mansion’s four spare bedrooms, including two WSU Board of Regent members and their spouses, one other member and a chancellor from another campus.
The president’s residence is located on the Washington State campus, near Greek Row.
A warm welcome
An orange ESPN College GameDay bus and a line of trucks carrying production gear could hardly go 20 miles on Highway 195 without seeing a crimson flag as they traveled through Spokane and into the Palouse Wednesday afternoon.
More than a dozen flag-bearing fans, including state patrol officers, showed up at the Cheney-Spokane overpass to get a first glimpse of the GameDay convoy as it passed through shortly after 11 a.m.
A larger contingent of fans, and an electronic message board that read “Welcome ESPN,” greeted the crew in Colfax.
Finally, after reportedly being stuck behind a combine harvester, the GameDay RV made its grand entrance into Pullman. A few hundred fans and students poured into the heart of the WSU campus, crowding around the bus as it rolled through the portion of Stadium Way that will serve as home base for the live show.
In a Twitter message, athletic director Pat Chun urged “all students to show up to GameDay.” Chun believes WSU, the 70th school to host the popular road show, could set an attendance record.
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