Cougars to get early football start

Washington State has released its official 2005 schedule after many difficult months of trying to find an 11th opponent.

Athletic director Jim Sterk and head coach Bill Doba held a news conference Friday afternoon from Qwest Field in Seattle, the site of that 11th game, which will be held Sept. 17 against Division I-AA Grambling State University, as reported here last week.

The Cougars have also moved their two other non-conference games to different dates than initially anticipated, with the season opener at home against Idaho to be played on a Thursday night, Sept. 1, and the second game of the year at Nevada to be played on Friday, Sept. 9.

That means WSU will have one extra day to prepare for both its second and third games, then a bye on Sept. 24 to get ready for the conference opener at Oregon State the week after that.

“It’s kind of unique,” Doba said. “It gives us a chance with a fairly inexperienced team to get things on track.”

The Idaho game was moved up two days in large part to accommodate Labor Day weekend, when many students usually leave Pullman. Sterk said he hopes more fans will attend with the game not coinciding with the holiday weekend. Nevada pushed that game up a day because it will likely be televised nationally on ESPN, which now shows a game each Friday night during the season.

But much of Sterk’s effort Friday was dedicated to Grambling, and the justifications for scheduling a team that would seem to pose little threat and hold little interest for fans.

Grambling’s famed marching band will be making the trip with the team, and will perform a “fifth quarter” after the conclusion of the game on the field. Sterk also indicated the Seattle Seahawks have adjusted the contract with WSU this year to help alleviate the extra costs involved with bringing the band. WSU is paying a $500,000 guarantee to Grambling to play.

While Grambling may be an easy opponent for the Cougars, things will certainly get tougher later in the year. WSU will make back-to-back road trips to California and defending national champion USC in October and will also be heading to Seattle for a second time to play the Huskies in the Apple Cup.