Fifteen Years in the Making: College GameDay Heads to Pullman for First Show at Washington State

College GameDay Images

• Ode to Wazzou with Feature on Ol’ Crimson Flag – a GameDay Staple

The Washington State flag has flown at 216 consecutive College GameDay shows across the country over the last 15 years. This weekend, College GameDay Built by The Home Depot will make its way to the flag, originating – for the first time – from Washington State’s campus on Saturday, October 20 (9 a.m. – noon ET) live on ESPN and simulcast on ESPNU. GameDay’s visit to Pullman marks the 70^th different school that the traveling pregame show has visited.

Live programming, including SportsCenter and College Football Live, will occur throughout the day on Friday, Oct. 19, and leading into the show on Saturday morning.

Host Rece Davis, who is joined by Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, David Pollack and Maria Taylor, as well as contributors Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica, Jen Lada, Tom Rinaldi and Gene Wojciechowski.

Show Highlights

• Ol Crimson – The story of how Wazzou’s ‘Ol Crimson’ Flag has become a College GameDay staple for the last 15 years! Reporter: Tom Rinaldi
• Tyler Strong –Purdue sophomore, and super fan Tyler Trent fought hard to become a Boilermaker, and now as he battles osteosarcoma – his Purdue football family is fighting for him. Reporter: Tom Rinaldi
• WANTED: Popcorn Guy – In 2014, the man, the myth, and the legend of “Popcorn Guy” was born as cameras caught a WSU fan dumping popcorn in his mouth during a lopsided Cougars loss. College GameDay makes a public plea to find him! Reporter: Gene Wojciechowski

Ol’ Crimson Flag Facts

• Tom Pounds (Class of 1981) started the tradition on October 4, 2003, driving 700 miles to fly the flag in Austin on GameDay
• Weeks after, alumni soon followed Pounds’ initiative, flying the flag in Madison, Wis., and Bowling Green, Ohio
• As a result, the Ol’ Crimson Booster Club was born, coordinating flag bearers (WSU alumni) for GameDay stops each season
• Flag bearers sign the ‘traveling flag’ after every College GameDay episode – one of those is housed at ESPN headquarters in Bristol

Corso to Make Headgear Selection No. 319; College GameDay by the Numbers
Coach Corso will make headgear selection No. 319 this weekend in Pullman. The lovable personality now has a career record of 206-112, including 3-4 record this season.

Corso Facts

• If Corso picks Washington State, it will be the 57^th different mascot head he has donned at the end of the show.
• Corso has lost his last four headgear picks; his only five-game losing streak in headgear picks came in 2002 when he had a six-game skid
• He has picked Oregon 19 times and is 13-6 in those 19 games; he’s picked against Oregon four times and been right in three of those instances.
• Corso has won five of his last six Week 8 picks.

Stats from ‘The Bear’

• Washington State is the 70^th different school to host GameDay and Pullman is the 82^nd different city to host GameDay. There are now just 11 Power 5 schools from which GameDay has not originated (Cal, Duke, Illinois, Iowa State, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia and Wake Forest)
• The Ducks are 14-9 with GameDay present at one of their games; Oregon lost at home to Stanford earlier this year.

College GameDay has Outstanding Offseason, Winning Three Sports Emmys
College GameDay continues to be recognized as sports media’s most successful studio show, as the premier pregame show was awarded the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Studio Show Weekly, winning that category for the fifth consecutive year and its eighth time overall in the category. The show’s journalism and operations technical expertise was also recognized, capturing Sports Emmys for Outstanding Short Feature and Outstanding Tech Team Studio. To date, the show has won 10 Emmys in the last 11 years.

-30-