Ohio State anticipates halftime show without a battle of the bands against FAMU

The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) reports that Ohio State University probably won’t get a chance to face off against FAMU in a battle of the bands on September 21st.

According to the newspaper: “Ohio State associate athletic director Martin Jarmond said he spoke with Florida A&M's interim athletic director on Tuesday and came away with the understanding that the band wouldn't be making the trip.”

“There's nothing we can do,” Jarmond said told The Plain Dealer. “It would have been awesome.”

Alonda Thomas, the director of media relations at FAMU, provided the newspaper with additional details about the decision to strike the Ohio State game off the Marching 100’s schedule.

“I think they're going to bring the band back slowly, and keeping with the size reduction and the guidelines, it was just one of those things where when we looked at where the band would perform this year, (the Ohio State game) was one of the things that was easy to move off the list,” Thomas said.

The Ohio State marching band calls itself “The Best Damn Band in the Land.” Many sports fans wanted to see it square off with the Marching 100 for halftime bragging rights.

Even though FAMU lifted the 100’s nearly two year suspension on June 27, rumors that the Marching 100 wouldn’t appear at the Buckeye-Rattler contest remained in wide circulation.

Back on July 18, the ESPN Big Ten Blog published an email by “Dave C.” from Columbus, OH that said: “You can move the Ohio State v. Florida A&M back to 48. The Rattler band is NOT coming to Columbus! (per OSU Band staff).”

“This is a travesty,” ESPN writer Brian Bennett wrote in response. “Can we take up a collection to get the FAMU band to the 'Shoe? If not, why in the heck is this game even being played?”