Gardner Minshew and his puppy implore fans to come to WSU vs. Arizona

The Washington State Cougars’ penultimate home game, against the Arizona Wildcats, will kick off at 7:30 p.m. PT on ESPN on Saturday, it was announced this morning. People who pay attention to these things already knew that was the most likely of the available time slots following WSU’s 3 ¹⁄₂-TD beating of the Colorado Buffaloes yesterday.

However, that time slot is also the worst cast scenario for attendance at the game, despite the Cougs being ranked No. 8 in the College Football Playoff. Beyond the fact that a late-night kickoff in mid-November is likely to be very cold — the current forecast on Weather Underground calls for 37 degrees at that time — it’s also the first Saturday of Thanksgiving break; getting students to stick around Pullman for an extra day or two has been an awfully hard sell ever since the 12-game schedule moved the Apple Cup to after the holiday.

But if anything will get those students to stick around until Sunday morning, it’s definitely OH MY GOSH GARDNER MINSHEW TOOK A PUPPY HOSTAGE:

Just kidding, that was completely adorable. Aviators, puppy and an American flag? That’s pretty much the most Minshew thing since, well, yesterday afternoon. (At this point, if you tried to convince me he was a character actor rather than a real person, I’m not sure I could argue with you.)

This season is special, and the students have been absolutely nails for the last couple of home games. I think they realize how cool this all is. Hopefully the video works. Go Cougs!