Poor Austin Bowman.
The second-year accounting student and the first sophomore head drum major at Ohio State University since 2010 was hyped to run out onto the field at Ohio Stadium on Saturday before the No. 4-ranked Buckeyes took on the No. 12-ranked Oregon Ducks in the first football game at the stadium with fans in attendance since 2019.
Bowman told the Newark Advocate in June about his excitement for the Buckeyes’ first home football game on Sept. 11:
“I can only hope and pray it will be a full stadium,” said Bowman, also a four-sport athlete at Lakewood [High School], joining Josh Halter (2008-09) and Kyle West (2012-13) as Lancer OSU drum majors. “But whatever it is, 100 percent full, 75 percent, 50 percent, it will be crazy,” he said. “It will be great. Running down that ramp for the first time, on game day, I can’t fathom what it will be like, but I know I will have some great bandmates, friends and family right there with me.”
With his bandmates waiting in the endzone, it was Bowman’s time to shine in front of a full stadium of fans, just as he had hoped. He would sprint out of a tunnel in the north end of the stadium to lead the OSU band onto the field.
And then this happened:
It’s the first #Buckeyes game back for a lot of people. pic.twitter.com/P02YAYJBQe
— Adam Jardy (@AdamJardy) September 11, 2021
Bowman told the Columbus Dispatch:
“It was like you were going down the stairs, but it’s dark and you don’t know where the bottom step is and you want to keep going down more steps but there’s level ground there,” Bowman said. “That’s basically what happened, and I just lost my balance and kept flying forward.”
Other than some bloody knuckles, Bowman was fine and his routine after the faceplant went flawlessly.
But Bowman’s tumble out of the gate may have been a bad omen for the Buckeyes. OSU lost to the Ducks 35-28.
The good news is Bowman probably has a bright future at a Big 4 firm. They love accounting students who fall head over heels for them.
