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The numbers behind Iowa State's viral dinosaur routine

Iowa State’s marching band unveiled an epic dinosaur-themed halftime show over the weekend. (via screenshot)
Iowa State’s marching band unveiled an epic dinosaur-themed halftime show over the weekend. (via screenshot)

Viral dinosaur band performances don’t just happen overnight. Just ask Iowa State band director Christian Carichner. The routine was one of the highlights of ISU’s game against No. 13 West Virginia on Saturday. They also happened to upset No. 13 West Virginia, in case anyone forgot.

Here are some of the numbers behind the halftime routine we didn’t know we needed.

12 months of planning required

It just didn’t happen all of a sudden. The ISU band actually began planning for their entertaining performance after watching the Michigan band last year. Unlike the Wolverines though, ISU wanted to make the dinosaurs a bigger part of the show.

$3,000 needed to buy 60 dinosaur costumes

At roughly $50 each on Amazon, the band spent almost $3,000 on to purchase more than 60 inflatable dinosaur costumes, according to SB Nation.

No word on if the band will get their money’s worth and recycle these uniforms for future games. Here’s hoping we’ll see more of the dinosaurs this season.

75-inch height limit for dinosaur performers

Although college students would likely jump at the chance to play a flossing dinosaur on national television, not everyone made the cut. The kids who were taller than 6-foot-3 were too tall for the costume and unfortunately were not part of the viral halftime performance.

As big as the T-Rex costume is – it’s eight-feet tall – anyone over 6’3 wouldn’t fit inside the outfit.

That cold weather almost did the dinosaurs in on gameday too.

The cold air and sweat caused the eye windows to fog up, blinding the dinosaurs. Good thing there were “dinosaur wranglers,” as Carichner called them, to keep everyone in order.

2 ‘dinosaur wranglers’

Even with more than 60 dinosaurs on the field, two were especially important for ISU.

The so-called dinosaur wranglers even wore different costumes to separate themselves from the other T-Rexs.

With the screens inside the costumes fogging up from the cold and sweat, the two other dinos were responsible for making sure their prehistoric brethren were in formation.

“[They’re] kind of poking around and making sure that they were all in the right spot.” Carichner said.

(h/t SB Nation)

(Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)
(Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)

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