COLUMBUS, Ohio — Come Friday, the Buckeyes will load up the buses and head to The State Up North for The Game. But they won’t be the only ones from Columbus making the trip.
The Best Damn Band In The Land will be packing up their instruments and getting set for the rivalry game. While their time playing in Ohio Stadium this season is over, the work for the band continues.
10TV spent time with the Ohio State Marching Band last week as they got ready to perform their halftime show dedicated to the late singer, Elvis Presley. It was an idea that band director Christopher Hoch said was created by a student in January.
The band members practiced over and over again the choreography for the performance – one that Hoch himself did.
Each band member gets an iPad in which they can see their own dot and the necessary moves they need to make to complete the drill.
This past week was just a one-week show which means that the band had just seven days to learn it. They begin going through music on Sunday with Monday being their first day working through the steps.
Throughout the week they add in more of the performance and combine it with playing their instruments. After hours of practice, the band finally marches down the ramp in the 'Shoe and performs their show.
Ohio State has performed for the final time inside Ohio Stadium, but on Saturday they will perform one of the greatest traditions in all of sports — Script Ohio in front of the Michigan fans.
There will be two "I-dotters" for this show, both of whom are relishing the chance to dot the I in such a massive rivalry game.
"To dot in Ann Arbor...it's only two people every two years. I think bringing a tradition to a hostile environment, the thing that I've been dreaming about since I was a young kid, a game to do it on the biggest stage...that's what I'm excited for the most," said Zach Demasa, one of the two I-dotters for the Michigan game.
While The Game is the greatest rivalry in all of sports, as anyone who follows college football knows, it just wouldn't be the same without The Best Damn Band in The Land.
To see all of the halftime shows from the band this year and Script Ohio, click here.