In College Football, is there some gentleman's agreement
 

That prevents the marching bands from playing when the ball in play?

I mean, it may take away the luster from the crowd, but if the point is to make noise for the defense so the offense gets ruffled wouldn't make sense to utilize the services of one of the louder components of the stadium.

It's more than just a gentleman's agreement. It's actually in the rules.

In the official rulebook of the NCAA, it's listed under Rule 9 (conduct of players and other subjects to the rules), Section 2 (Unsportsmanlike acts) Article 1, Heading 2, subheading b, point 5.

"Persons subject to the rules, including bands, shall not create any noise that prohibits a team from hearing its signals. (Rule 1-1-6)"

Penalty is a Dead Ball foul with a 15 yard penalty.

On a similar situation (and one that I witnessed personally), the University of Oklahoma learned that the hard way in the 1985 Orange Bowl against the University of Washington... they score a touchdown but the famous Sooner Schooner went out on the field a little too soon - cost' em the touchdown, and fifteen yards. And they wound up losing the game, anyway. (That was the year BYU won the national championship in a minor 'toilet bowl' game 'cause all the top bowl contenders lost.)

Which, of course, caused a huge controversary. My take is that BYU, with an undefeated record, deserved the championship. I'm sure you would disagree.

Another marching band situation I've experienced twice is that if the marching band doesn't finish it's performance by the time the halftime clock runs out, the home team is penalized for delay of game on the opening kickoff of the second half.

It happened a couple years ago at Ohio University Homecoming when the Athletic Department tried to cram too many promotional things in halftime before the band show, which included the last number with a huge alumni band.

I gotta tell you, that with the following the band has at Ohio, the officials took their lives in their own hands by throwing that flag.

The other amazing thing is that the O.U. head coach took it exceptionally well, and the Athletic Department actually apologized to the band.

DeltAlum, as an OU alum, how are you liking Frankie? I've become sort of a secondary Bobcat fan of late.

Actually, twenty years on, I gotta agree with ya, considering the polling setup of the time. The major bowl committees had a conniption fit of titanic proportions over it ("A second-rate team winning the national championship in a third-rate bowl game? Sacrilege!") and thus begat the infamous BCS.

A playoff system like the NCAA Final Four for football? Ain't gonna happen, at least not for a long time.

I think it's outstanding that we have him.

However, I'm not going to make any real judgements until he has a chance to get a couple of years of recruiting done and see how the win/loss columns look then.

I hope two things: First that the Bobcat fans don't expect too much too soon and second that he doesn't get the football program turned around and then bolt for a bigger job.

Sorry for two posts in a row.

When I was the announcer for the band at Ohio, that's exactly what we did. But the "business" of college sports has changed considerably since then.

We didn't have field goal contests sponsored by whomever or any other kind of marketing activities.

Most people don't realize that, with the exception of the actual athletic event, sporting events are scripted nearly as tightly as broadcasts. That includes announcements, what you see on the scoreboard, PA announcements and band playing between quarters, etc.

In this kind of situation, I think it's also a difference between a big established, well funded program and a struggling one. Ohio is shooting for all of the tricks it can to gain sponsorships/funding and filling seats in the stands.

Schools like Michigan, Ohio State, Texas -- the list goes on -- don't have those challenges.