I rarely think about bands during a college football game. I don't think much about the mascots or cheerleaders, either.

But I expect them to be there. All of them.

So I was surprised to hear the University of Tennessee wouldn't take its full band to the LSU and Florida games this fall. It was a budgetary decision made by UT athletic director Mike Hamilton, whose athletic department funds the band's travel.

My first response: Take away an assistant coach's cell phone for a month. If that doesn't put you under budget, fire an administrator. If you're still over budget, do something drastic, like cut out free food in the press box. But a school with UT's football prominence and a budget big enough to fund a revolution in a third-world country should have its entire band at every football game.

Easy for me to say, huh? The money doesn't come out of my travel budget.

"They're in a financial spot right now where they're trying to make a budget work," said UT band director Gary Sousa, who understands the athletic director's dilemma. "We're at the whim of Mike Hamilton. If he decides something, we do it."

That's nothing new. UT's band has always been at the mercy of the athletic director when it comes to travel. But in the past, the entire band went to every significant road game.

"The athletic program is run differently under Mike than it was under Coach (Bob) Woodruff or Coach (Doug) Dickey," Sousa said. "It's a business."

In this case, it's business vs. tradition. And you know how that rivalry is going on college campuses.

UT isn't out of line with other big-time football programs. In fact, it's probably as band-friendly as any of them.

I checked 11 other programs who take their football as seriously as UT. Not one of them takes its full band on every road trip.

Some of them, including Big Ten powers Ohio State and Michigan, don't have any band representation at some road games. Neither does Florida State. Others, like two-time defending national champion Southern Cal and Nebraska, send their full band to selected games and a pep band to the others. Here's a sampling of other bands on the road this season:

• Texas will send its full band to in-state road games and a pep band to the others. It's still debating whether to send the full band to Ohio State in September.

• Notre Dame will send its full band to Michigan and Purdue but probably will have no band representation at three other road games.

• Penn State will send its full band to one road game. Its alumni association will sponsor a 15-man pep band on the other road trips.

• UT's SEC rivals, Alabama and Florida, will send a full band to some road games and a pep band to others.

Based on those comparisons, why should UT fans complain about only sending a pep band to The Swamp and Tiger Stadium this fall?

Before answering that, you need to hear more from Sousa.

Don't think of him as a music man. Think of him as a sports psychologist specializing in crowd behavior.

"Everything we do is to get the fans to stay in the game," he said.

Sousa realized how challenging that could be in his first season as UT's band director eight years ago.

"I'd never seen fans sit on their hands more," Sousa said. "It was tough. We've worked really hard to keep fans in the games at home. We're always making sure our fans don't go quiet. Away, you're dealing with other fans, too."

It's not as simple as waving your arms and screaming for "Rocky Top" one more time. It requires both a sense of timing and football.

"How do you turn a stadium around?" he asks. "You're dealing psychologically with the other fans at all times (at road games). We work to become more aggressive when the other fans become discouraged.

"If our team does something well and we can get our fans back at that moment, sometimes that can turn the tide. On our trips to The Swamp, I believe our band has been very instrumental the last two times we've won there (in 2001 and 2003)."

You might wonder what's the big deal whether you send 100 or 330 band members. It's still a band.

"The decibel level alone is significant," Sousa said. "It's about one-third of what you would normally get."

Football translation: If you have two defensive backs instead of four, you still have a secondary, but how do you expect to cover four Florida wide receivers?

Sousa makes music and noise sound as much a part of football as offense and defense. So he doesn't relish the idea of marching into two of the loudest stadiums in the country - against two of the best teams on UT's schedule - with only one-third of his troops.

You don't have to be musically inclined to share Sousa's concern. You just have to be superstitious. The Vols won their last two games in The Swamp with 330 band members in the stands. Anything short of that could be an unlucky number.

Hamilton's original plan had the full band going to Florida, Alabama and Kentucky. Sousa pointed out that UT had always taken its full band to the Notre Dame game in South Bend, Ind. Hamilton then added Notre Dame and cut Florida.

While one tradition was preserved, another was lost. But this isn't just about tradition. It's about pride.

How can you bill yourself as the "Pride of the Southland Band," then go south without two-thirds of your members?

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knew.scom.