The Week 1 win for Ohio State football over No. 1 Texas was incredible. Let's start off by saying that much. However, things were far from perfect in Columbus on the day. Some of the negatives included Dave Portnoy being obnoxious like usual and Kenyatta Jackson suffering his injury.
On top of that, though, people didn't lose focus of 'Hang on Sloopy' no longer being played in between the third and fourth quarters. This is a decision that people remain quite upset with athletic director Ross Bjork about.
Well, that anger returned against Texas, as while the song wasn't played before the last 15 minutes of action at The Shoe, FOX went ahead and played it for the television broadcast. Fans at home quickly took notice of this, with the tradition continuing on TV, but not inside of the stadium. It was a great call by FOX to keep this going, and in turn it was a bad look for Bjork.
Even if the Ohio State band can't continue tradition, FOX did
The literal only thing I can give big ups to Fox for is playing Hang On Sloopy going into the third-fourth quarter ad break.
— 1-0 🏆🌰 (@BluntBuckeye) August 30, 2025
FOX will play Hang On Sloopy but Bjork won’t 🥴
— Matt (@BelowAverageOPS) August 30, 2025
Ohio State football fans remain upset with Ross Bjork's 'Hang on Sloopy' decision
Overall, the game atmosphere was electric and Bjork deserves a ton of credit for some of the changes that were made. However, the Hang on Sloopy call needs to be reversed as soon as possible. The song eventually was played, but it's never going to be the same unless it indeed is played between the third and fourth.
For now, Bjork said Ohio State is going to have it played 'when the team needs it most' moving forward. This is something a lot of people aren't going to love, but what can we do? Meanwhile on the field, the Buckeyes were fantastic, with the defense giving Arch Manning all sorts of issues.
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Manning saw his Heisman Trophy odds take a fall following his Week 1 showing and no one should be surprised by that. Ohio State started off the season with a bang and Ryan Day deserves a ton of praise too - the same goes for Matt Patricia. The reigning national champs are feeling great and there are plenty of reasons to be excited about the next home game. Still, something must be fixed with the Hang on Sloopy drama.