Update: Bass was suspended one game for this.
There were cursory reports of this last night but we actually have a JFK-style slowdown video of a Northern Illinois player just ramming into a Toledo band member. Should've stiff-armed him with his clarinet.
(via @GCPepperGuy)
No. 6 on NIU is Jamaal Bass, a redshirt freshman linebacker who did play in the game and didn't have any tackles but did register a QB hurry. Solo woodwinder takedowns is an unofficial stat that I really think they should start chronicling next year.
Look, we're never going to figure out if he intentionally tried to blow up the band member with that shoulder — and they really need to more properly time when these convoys enter the field — but this looks pretty bad. If you run into someone on the street and knock them over, intention be damned, it's always important to apologize. Or at least buy him a new reed.
It looks like some other gold-feathered minstrels lay asunder on the turf as well, and they did a good job of impersonating their impending football team's special teams, and maybe they'd have had an even better chance of catching Tommylee Lewis or Chandler Harnish.
If you want to see a faster version, here's Burke's GIF of the incident. Again, bottom right.