By Packy Moore

ESPN’s Popular Pregame Show Visits Cal For First Time

BERKELEY – ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot will originate from Cal on Saturday – the first time the ultra-popular college football pregame show has ever come to Berkeley.

The show will be staged on Memorial Glade in the center of campus and is open to the public.

College GameDay Built by The Home Depot airs from 6-9 a.m. PT. The “Pit” – the area closest to the stage which can accommodate approximately 400 fans – will open at 3:30 a.m. PT. Guests will be allowed to begin lining up to enter The Pit at midnight early Saturday morning. All fans entering the pit will be screened by ESPN security.

Once The Pit reaches capacity, fans are welcome to gather throughout the Glade to watch the show.

SCHEDULE: ESPN will air live TV spots from Memorial Glade beginning at 4:30 a.m. PT until the show begins at 6 a.m. PT.

The Golden Bears host No. 8 Miami on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. PT at California Memorial Stadium. A limited number of tickets are still available.

For additional updates, check CalBears.com and Cal Athletics social media accounts throughout the remainder of the week.

ESPN’S COLLEGE GAMEDAY
– ESPN’s wildly popular College GameDay Built by the Home Depot is coming to Berkeley for the first time. The pregame show will originate live from Memorial Glade on the University of California campus prior to Saturday’s game against Miami from 6-9 a.m. PT. The pit will open at 3 a.m. and fans interested in attending in person are encouraged to arrive early. The show’s lineup includes host Rece Davis alongside analysts Lee Corso, Steve Coughlin, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, Kirk Herbstreit and Nick Saban.

CAL…
– Is playing its first ACC home game.
– Is hosting ESPN’s College GameDay for the first time and removing its name from a short list of Power 4 schools who have never hosted (Illinois, Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse and Virginia).
– Is playing Miami for the first time since winning 24-17 in the Emerald Bowl at then AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco on Dec. 27, 2008, as well as hosting Miami in Berkeley for only the second time ever and the first since falling to a No. 10 Hurricane team, 52-24, on Sept. 15, 1990.
– Is being televised for the fourth straight game on ESPN or ESPN2 – its longest such stretch on the ESPN family of networks since playing four in a row on ESPN from Oct. 21 – Nov. 12, 2016 (Oregon, at USC, Washington, at Washington State).
– Starting QB Fernando Mendoza is a native of Miami who graduated from Columbus High School.
– Had a string of six straight regular-season wins snapped in its loss at Florida State.
– Has allowed 14 points or less in four consecutive games to begin the season for its longest such run since the first four games of 1979, with the last time that Cal has allowed 14 or less points in more than four straight a six-game stretch spanning the final two games of 1967 and the first four of 1968.

STAY POSTED
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COURTESY CAL ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS