MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Desmond Howard says the ESPN “College GameDay” crew is looking forward to this weekend’s visit to West Virginia, their first since 2011.
“I’m excited to get down there. They have a tremendous fanbase,” the former Heisman winner told MetroNews “Talkline” on Wednesday.
“We were down there a couple of years ago when they played LSU and it was a phenomenal turnout. They had Coach Huggins as the guest picker and he was great. It was a wonderful experience all around.”
Howard learned through Twitter about the tent city of students that sprang up on the Mountainlair Plaza only hours after the announcement that Morgantown would host. The show, which travels across the country to the biggest venues in college football, has evolved into a Saturday morning staple for fans awaiting kickoff.
“Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, and Chris Fowler, those guys are the best of the best,” Howard said. “I think our show is so popular because the chemistry we have comes across to our audience.”
It looks like Marshall record-setting quarterback Rakeem Cato may also be in Morgantown Saturday. As Marshall athletics director Mike Hamrick tweeted Wednesday afternoon: “It looks like http://CatoIn14.com will be in Morgantown on Saturday visiting with Tom Rinaldi and the @CollegeGameDay crew.”
The undefeated Herd is off this weekend.
Howard could hazard no guesses on the West Virginia-TCU final, at least not the cast makes its cutomary picks before kickoff.
“Two of the most improved quarterbacks in all of college football with Boykin of TCU and Trickett,” he said. “That’s one of the best storylines of the game.”