Briggs: 'Halftime is for the bands!' Snub of BG a baffling and unforced error by Toledo

Strike up the band drama.

In a move that has raised and furrowed brows alike, you’ve probably heard that the Battle of I-75 will be a little quieter this year.

Toledo is not allowing Bowling Green’s marching band to play at halftime of their game a week from Saturday at the Glass Bowl, citing a scheduling conflict for the break from tradition.

It has caused quite the stir, producing dueling accusations by the rival schools and leaving Falcons — and many Rockets — supporters to wonder: What in the name of Tom PETTY is going on here?

Is there really no way for Toledo to accommodate the usual pageantry? Or is this a show of gamesmanship to splash a little gasoline on the fire of a backyard feud?

Either way, it is a halftime hubbub as juicy as it is … avoidable, the definition of an unforced error.

No, that’s not to turn a molehill into the Himalayas, and, first things first, we should offer a little context.

I’ve seen a few points lost in translation amid the hullabaloo on social media.

Toledo, to be clear, is welcoming the Bowling Green band to the Glass Bowl and has provided all of Section 27 — more than 500 seats — for the 425-member ensemble. BG will play from the stands throughout the game, just not on the field at halftime.

Also, such conflicts are not new.

While it is common in college football for both bands to perform at halftime — including in the Toledo-BG game as long as I can remember — it is not always so.

Toledo’s band, for instance, has twice been sidelined the past two years by opposing schools citing time constraints. It was told off by Ohio State because it was the Buckeyes’ Alumni Band Day and Eastern Michigan because of a halftime ceremony.

Toledo is using the time that would have been allotted to the Bowling Green band to honor its new class of Varsity T Club Hall of Famers, and its leaders are adamant the news was no “surprise” to the Falcons, despite the claim otherwise by BG president Rodney Rogers, who issued a declaration of rivalry war cloaked in a letter of support to his band. (Credit to Bowling Green for shrewdly getting in front of the story.)

I believe UT is sincere in the desire to respect and honor its 2024 inductees the same way it has past enshrinees.

Still …

That is all just context.

Just because Toledo can do something doesn’t make it right.

Bottom line: UT knew — or should have known — there was just one opponent that planned to bring its band to a game this season, and that one band took great pride in its halftime performances, led by the masterful Jon Waters, the former director of the Ohio State marching band.

To find neither the time nor goodwill for your backyard rival is inexcusable.

If Toledo’s Hall of Fame celebration had to be next weekend, it could have just as easily — and respectfully — honored its seven new inductees before the game, just as schools do with their senior day ceremonies, or during the way-too-long quarter breaks.

There is a reason halftime is 20 minutes in college and just 12 in the NFL. It’s for the marching bands.

The Toledo-BG game is a civic celebration, and the bands are a part of that, just as they are in any great rivalry.

Waters spent 19 years with the famed Ohio State marching band — rising from a student sousaphone player all the way to director — and he recalls the thrill of the final Saturday of the regular season. Whether the Ohio State-Michigan game was in Columbus or Ann Arbor, the home band got eight minutes of halftime, the visiting band seven.

“Halftime is for bands!” Waters told me. “We are really disappointed our students, especially our seniors, are not going to continue the decades-long tradition of playing Toledo and performing in each other’s stadiums. When the Rocket marching band was here last year, it was a great time. We welcomed them. Our students have gone to high school with many of those kids. I know we have at least one brother and sister, where the sister is in our band, the brother in the Rocket marching band. Everybody knows everyone and is part of this community. This is a community celebration.

“Marching bands — and the color and the pageantry — are what make college football unique. Otherwise, it's just another pro football game. What would any great rivalry game be without the bands performing? What would Alabama and Auburn be without the bands? What would Ohio State and Michigan be without both bands performing at halftime? What would USC and UCLA be without both bands performing? And, too, what would Bowling Green-Toledo be without both bands performing at halftime?”

It’s a good question.

Unless Bowling Green plans to stage a rogue performance in the tailgate lot, I guess we’re about to find out.