PULLMAN, Wash. — ESPN’s College GameDay brought devoted Coug fans from near and far to the Palouse. That means police officers saw a slight uptick in crime along with the influx of visitors.
Officials said Pullman Police responded to six fire calls, most of which were in the roadway. Five of those were couch and mattress fires.
Pullman Police also responded to a seventh incident on Saturday night where people were huddled around a couch in a roadway. Officials said the couch had already been doused in an accelerant that would start a fire and everyone fled when officers arrived.
Police responded to 181 calls beginning Friday morning through Sunday morning. Officials said this is fairly typical of a football game weekend, where officers usually see 130 to 140 calls.
Overall, it was a relatively well-behaved weekend for the amount of people in town, according to Pullman Police.
About 20,000 people showed up to the College GameDay set on Pullman’s campus when taping started at 6 a.m., according to ESPN. That’s more than the total number of undergraduate students currently attending WSU.
Drew Bledsoe, a former WSU football player who served as College GameDay’s celebrity picker, was one of two out of three pickers to call the game in the Cougs’ favor. Even Lee Corso, an avid Ducks fan, chose the Cougs to win on Saturday.
The Cougs beat the Oregon Ducks 34 to 20.
Martin Stadium holds 33,000 fans but the university sold some standing room only tickets for a grand total of 33,152 fans.
Related stories: