The USC Trojans and the Alabama Crimson Tide will open their college football season this Saturday in Arlington, TX at AT&T Stadium.  Alabama is pre-season ranked #1 after winning the title last year.

But while the teams do battle on the gridiron, there's another battle taking place.

You see, USC and Alabama both use the Fleetwood Mac song "Tusk" as a part of their repertoire.

For USC, whose band appeared in the original video shot at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles a more than a quarter century ago, it's almost an unofficial fight song.  The band still plays the classic as part of their post game performance.  (This video shows not only the original shot from the stadium, but also shows the band performing it on the field.)

 

But, for about a decade now, Alabama's Million Dollar Band has been using it as part of their pregame.  The band forms the shape of an elephant, which, of course, is Alabama's mascot.  They also play it outside the stadium.  The fact the school is in TUSKaloosa (sic) just adds to the band (and fans') passion for the song.

And, as you might expect, there are a few Alabama fans that think the song was written to honor Alabama and their football excellence.

"The song Tusk’ is about the University of Alabama Football Team,” James from Tuscaloosa wrote on SongFacts.com. “The ‘He’ in the song refers to Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant and the fact that he was the winningest coach in College Football history and refused to concede his title as such to anyone else. The song is played on the University of Alabama campus daily, and is part of the rich heritage of the Alabama Crimson Tide.”"

We're sure even some Alabama fans giggled at that one.

Both bands insist they are going to be playing the song Saturday night.

USC will move the song to it's pregame, kind of a "hey we had it first" message.  Alabama says they won't play it in the pregame because of time constraints, but will, instead, play it at various times throughout the game.

The Trojans' band has been playing the song for decades.  It even went on stage at a Fleetwood Mac concert in 2010 to reprise the sound with the band.

And, it should be noted that Al, the Crimson Tide mascot, does not have a tusk.

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