Purdue band cannot bring drum to Notre Dame

For the first time since 1979, Purdue’s band will be without the World’s Largest Drum when they Boilermakers take on Notre Dame in South Bend.

The World’s Largest Drum is too big for Notre Dame Stadium, Purdue said on Friday.

“According to a communication from the University of Notre Dame, our Band will not be permitted to take the World’s Largest Drum through their tunnel and onto the football field for this Saturday’s game,” Aaron Yoder, a spokesman for the university’s bands and orchestras told ESPN. “Notre Dame Athletics has restricted use of their main tunnel to their own football team and band, which is the only entrance large enough for the Drum. We have been told that visiting teams and bands have to use a separate tunnel that is much smaller. Our Drum is about 10 feet tall on its carriage and 565 pounds so it doesn’t even come close to fitting in this other tunnel.”

In previous matchups with Notre Dame, Purdue has used the main tunnel at Notre Dame Stadium to bring the drum out for previous halftime shows. Notre Dame Stadium underwent renovations in 2017 including adding a visitor tunnel, which is exclusively for visiting teams and is apparently the only access visitors are allowed to field level.

Purdue is celebrating the 100th birthday of the drum this year, which was first built in 1921. The last time the band was without the drum was in 1979, when it went missing from storage the night before Purdue played Northwestern.

According to Purdue, in the days of train travel, band director Paul Spotts Emrick, who had the drum built, worked with the New York Central Railway to find train cars that could house it. The drum now usually travels in the back of a pickup truck.

Purdue enters the matchup with No. 12 Notre Dame with a 2-0 record with wins over Oregon State and UConn. After a 30-21 win over Oregon State, the Boilermakers rolled against Uconn 49-0.

Notre Dame is 2-0 as well, with wins over unranked Florida State and Toledo by a combined six points. The Fighting Irish needed overtime to defeat the Seminoles and beat Toledo with a go-ahead touchdown from Jack Coan to tight end Michael Mayer from 18-yards out with just 1:09 left in the game. Notre Dame’s game-winning touchdown came after Toledo quarterback Dequan Finn scored from 26-yards out on a bootleg run less than 30 seconds earlier.