A History of Halftime Shows in College Football: From Marching Bands to Modern Spectacles
College football, a sport steeped in tradition, boasts a rich history of halftime entertainment. From the early days of marching bands to the incorporation of contemporary music and cultural moments, the evolution of the halftime show reflects the changing landscape of American culture and entertainment.
The Early Years: A Tradition of Marching Bands
The Rose Bowl Game, nicknamed "The Granddaddy of Them All," holds a special place in college football history. First played in 1902, it is the oldest postseason football game. The game is part of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association's "America's New Year Celebration," which also includes the historic Rose Parade. The early Rose Bowl games, like many college football contests of the time, would feature marching bands as the primary form of halftime entertainment. These bands, often from the participating universities, would showcase their musical talents, intricate formations, and school spirit.
The Rose Bowl Game: A Storied History
The Rose Bowl Game has a storied history, marked by significant moments and adaptations to changing times. Originally titled the "Tournament East-West football game", the first Rose Bowl was played on January 1, 1902, starting the tradition of New Year's Day bowl games. The football game was added in 1902 to help fund the cost of the Rose Parade. The inaugural game featured Fielding H. Yost's dominating 1901 Michigan team, representing the East, which crushed a previously 3-1-2 team from Stanford University, representing the West, by a score of 49-0 after Stanford quit in the third quarter. Michigan finished the season 11-0 and was crowned the national champion.
During World War I, teams from military bases met in the Rose Bowl. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, there were concerns about a possible Japanese attack on the West Coast. The Rose Parade, with a million watchers, and the Rose Bowl, with 90,000 spectators, were presumed to be ideal targets for the Japanese. Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt recommended that the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl festivities be cancelled. On December 16, Duke University invited the game and Oregon State to Duke's home stadium in Durham, North Carolina. After the 1942 Allied victory in the Battle of Midway and the end of the Japanese offensives in the Pacific Theater during 1942, it was deemed that a large portion of the West Coast was no longer vulnerable to attack, and the Rose Bowl Game continued on in the Rose Bowl stadium.
The Rise of Contemporary Music
As college football's popularity grew, so did the desire for more elaborate and engaging halftime shows. While marching bands remained a staple, contemporary music began to make its way into the mix. Performances by popular artists started to appear, adding a new dimension to the halftime experience.
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On occasion, the National Championship has been compared to a smaller-scale Super Bowl, attracting celebrity and even political attention.
The College Football Playoff National Championship: A Modern Stage
The College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship emerged as the modern stage for college football's ultimate game. The mainline event for the CFP decides who will have bragging rights for the year. While the National Championship has been compared to a smaller-scale Super Bowl, attracting celebrity and even political attention, it's worth noting that nothing quite compares to the Super Bowl.
In recent years, however, the CFP National Championship has largely declined to feature major halftime performers, sticking with the tradition of showcasing school bands. For example, both the Michigan Marching Band and Washington Husky Marching Band performed. While Michigan and Washington’s football teams competed for the title, things got just as heated in the band world. Both bands brought their A-game to the proceedings.
The 2018 CFP National Championship Halftime Show: Kendrick Lamar's Groundbreaking Performance
A notable exception to the trend of school bands occurred in 2018, when Kendrick Lamar, a rapper from Compton, California, was tapped to entertain the nation. It wasn’t just that it also happened to be televised to millions across the nation, solidifying Lamar’s place as the most marketable pop artist in America in 2018. It wasn’t just that it preceded his set finale, “All the Stars,” a collaboration with his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmate SZA off the soundtrack for Marvel’s Black Panther, a project produced and curated by Lamar and his TDE squad that is set for release on Feb. 16. It was that during the most important game of the year, in a sport largely controlled by white men, while young black men risk life and limb for no pay, a rapper from Compton, California, who often tells tales of revolution and resistance, was tapped to entertain the nation, and it all made sense.
According to CFP executive director Bill Hancock, “As we had hoped, we had the best of both worlds: the traditional halftime show by those two great marching bands plus a world-class performance by Kendrick Lamar.
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Speaking with two ESPN senior officials who organized the event, this wasn’t some random pick out of the sky. Three years ago, they wanted to increase ratings at halftime for the CFP because they noticed that it’s the highest-rated period at the Super Bowl but was the lowest for CFP. That’s where their relationship with Interscope Records comes into play.
As for Lamar, his love for the Los Angeles Lakers really helped out early on. TDE is an imprint of Interscope, of course. You might recall Lamar’s ode “Kobe Bryant: Fade to Black.” He’s a huge Kobe fan, something we’ve seen proved over time. Mind you, when it was time to make choices for the halftime show, Interscope’s line is vicious. Maroon 5 is on their roster. This was no easy choice. But once they knew Lamar was involved with Black Panther, it was a wrap.
ESPN vice president of sports marketing Emeka Ofodile said, “We know music is probably the second-biggest passion that college football fans have. The goal was to create a cultural moment, be it controversial or not. To get past the regional histories of college football, they needed to go big. Lamar was a no-brainer, controversy be damned. They can’t control what people think about the president. Or what he chooses to do. It didn’t change their mission. They wanted it to be different. They didn’t want to just recreate a Super Bowl experience. They wanted real fans of both football and Lamar to be there. And that they were. Their overall goal? To make it the hottest stage in the game.”
Clinton Yates wrote, "It’s easy to call Lamar transcendent. On the night in which he could have made a scene and directed the ire of so many fans of his in the direction of the commander-in-chief, or made an obvious political statement with everyone watching, he didn’t. Because he didn’t have to. His existence in that space alone was enough of a statement, and just being himself was plenty. He didn’t have to allow himself to be defined by the moment - he defined it himself."
The Super Bowl Halftime Show: A Cultural Phenomenon
While the college football halftime show has evolved, the Super Bowl halftime show stands as a cultural phenomenon. Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s “controversial” Super Bowl performance in 2004 drastically changed not just the way that halftime shows were programmed but also how the broadcast industry made its rules. Jackson took all the heat in that scenario. Since then, there has been President Barack Obama, police brutality and the murders of unarmed black people becoming what felt like nightly appearances on the national news, a non-insignificant resurfacing of a movement to compensate college athletes for their work, a Beyoncé Super Bowl halftime show that many people took offense to, as an ode to the Black Panther Party, and a massive “recorrect” by America in electing a reality show star to the White House.
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Comeback Stories
Aside from halftime shows, college football is also known for its incredible comebacks.
Michigan State didn't just complete the biggest comeback in FBS history in October 2006, but the Spartans did so in just less than 25 minutes of game time. Michigan State scored the first points of the game on a 32-yard field goal in the first quarter. "Freshman Brett Swenson had plenty of time to think about his game-winning kick in MSU's thrilling 41-38 comeback win here Saturday," the Lansing State Journal's Todd Schulz wrote. "As the Spartans drove downfield in the final minutes, it was clear they'd decided to play for a field goal, running the ball six straight times to Northwestern's 11-yard line. Still, Swenson wasn't sweating as he trotted out for a 28-yard try with 13 seconds remaining. Somewhat surprisingly, Northwestern only had two turnovers all game, so it's not as if the Wildcats imploded due to four interceptions in the second half - although an interception set up the game-winning field goal.
UCLA scored on the game's opening drive, as JJ Molson's 29-yard field goal gave the Bruins a 3-0 lead. Two years to the month after UCLA erased a 34-point deficit against Texas A&M, the Bruins overcame a 32-point deficit against Pac-12 foe Washington State.
Miami (FL) wasn't just leading Maryland by 31 points but the sixth-ranked Hurricanes were leading 31-0. The Terrapins hadn't scored in the first half before putting up 42 points in the last 27-plus minutes to win 42-40. Miami, by the way, had climbed from No. 10 in the preseason AP poll to No. 1 after neutral-site wins over then-No. 1 Auburn and No. 17 Florida, so the 'Canes were a former No. "The Maryland Terrapins never gave up hope Saturday, and that stubborn resolve, spiked by backup quarterback Frank Reich, led the Terps past sixth-ranked Miami 42-40 in one of the greatest comebacks in college football history," reported the AP. "The Terps, who trailed 31-0 at the half, junked their conservative offense and brought on Reich in the second half. Reich completed 12-of-15 passes for 260 yards and four total touchdowns. Maryland followed up its win on the road against Miami with a victory against No. 20 Clemson, which allowed the Terrapins to crack the AP Top 25 poll for the first time all season at No.
"Somehow, the Gophers' 31-0 lead was gone," wrote the Star Tribune's Curt Brown, regarding Ohio State's comeback against Minnesota. "Long gone. Ohio State overcame six turnovers and scored 23 fourth-quarter points to go ahead 41-37 with 51 seconds to go. It equaled the biggest comeback in the history of major college football, matching Maryland's 31-point rally against Miami five years ago. But after 3.5 hours, 78 points and 792 yards, this wacky game wasn't over. Not yet. With seven seconds to go, Gophers quarterback Scott Schaffner rolled to his left and lofted a 25-yard pass toward Steve Rhem, who had broken free in the end zone … That last pass, the 137th play of a dizzying day, made it all the way to Rhem's outstretched fingers.
Texas Tech's 31-point, come-from-behind victory came just over two months after Michigan State set the FBS record with a 35-point comeback against Northwestern. It sure helps to overcome a 31-point deficit when you have Graham Harrell - the NCAA record-holder for passes completed in a season (512) and 400-yard games in a season (11) and career (20). He finished the Insight Bowl with 445 passing yards and two touchdowns after completing 36-of-55 attempts.
Is 31-0 the most dangerous lead in college football? TCU, which started the 2015 season ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll, overcame such a deficit in as high-stakes of a game as you'll see on this list: a top-15 matchup in the Alamo Bowl. Oregon took a 31-0 lead into halftime, then TCU scored all 31 of the points in the second half to force overtime. "Bram Kohlhausen's eight-yard touchdown run in the third overtime carried No. 11 TCU to a wild 47-41 victory over No. 15 Oregon in the Alamo Bowl on Saturday night as the Horned Frogs stormed back from a 31-0 halftime deficit behind a backup quarterback," the AP reported. "The 31-point comeback to win tied the record for a bowl game, matching Texas Tech in the 2006 Insight Bowl against Minnesota. Oregon stormed to the big lead early behind quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., but he was knocked out of the game late in the second quarter after taking a hard hit to the head. Oregon gained only 18 yards in regulation in the second half …"
What's more impressive: The fact that Tulsa rallied from a 31-point hole or the fact that it took Fresno State just 20 minutes to build a 31-0 lead? The Bulldogs' ability to score so many points so quickly actually gave the Golden Hurricane more time to mount its comeback. "On Fresno State's first offensive play from scrimmage, the timing of the play called was all mixed up," The Fresno Bee's Robert Kuwada wrote. "The running back ended up running into the quarterback, who, while fending off a tackle by his teammate, threw a lateral that bounced before it reached its intended target out in the left flat. That actually happened. And the Bulldogs scored a touchdown on the play. Jamire Jordan picked up the football and picked his way down the sideline 44 yards into the end zone and Fresno State - a team that had struggled to do right in a 1-2 start - scored on a play on which it had done about as much wrong as possible.
"Dave Barr threw three second-half touchdown passes, including a 26-yarder to Iheanyi Uwaezuoke with 1:17 left as the Golden Bears (5-0, 2-0) overcame a 30-0 deficit to beat the Ducks (3-1, 0-1) as Berkeley, Calif.," the AP reported, regarding California's comeback against Oregon. "It was the biggest comeback in Cal history, surpassing a 29-28 win against Arizona on Nov. 4, 1989, in which the Golden Bears overcame a 21-0 deficit. Uwaezuoke's catch culminated a nine-play, 85-yard drive, but Cal still trailed by one point.
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