Spectators in Memorial Stadium saw Kansas University get shown up twice Saturday: once by the Oklahoma State football team and once by the Oklahoma State marching band.

The Marching Jayhawks, which number about 165 this year, were dwarfed by the Cowboy band that brought 270 students to Memorial Stadium. The OSU band easily drowned out the KU band and made an impressive appearance on the field at halftime with a band that featured seven xylophones and about 25 flag twirlers.

The KU band members performed well and looked snazzy in their two-year-old uniforms, but they couldn’t help but look a little puny by comparison to their counterpart from the south. The “Feather the Flock” campaign allowed KU to order 300 new uniforms for the band two years ago, but only about half of those uniforms are in use. Although band directors have said they want to increase the band’s size, the group is about 15 members smaller than last year.

What does OSU know that KU is missing?

Bradley Snow, director of the OSU marching band, told the Journal-World Monday that his band’s membership has grown in the last five or 10 years, along with the success of the OSU football team. Although some music majors in the band have scholarships, the majority of the band members participate without stipends, the same as at KU.

Travel is a key perk, he said, a perk that is increasing with the support of the OSU athletic department. Although a smaller pep band goes to most OSU away games, he said, Saturday was the only scheduled trip this season for the full band. However, that changed after the OSU athletic director saw the band having what he judged to be a decisive positive impact on the outcome of Saturday’s game, Snow said. The full band now is scheduled to accompany the team to Lubbock, Texas, for the Nov. 18 game against Texas A&M. All of the band’s travel expenses are paid by the OSU athletic department, with whom, Snow noted, the band has a great relationship.

It seems there may be a lesson in that for KU. With all of the emphasis the KU athletic department has placed on fundraising, isn’t there enough money to provide increased support for the Marching Jayhawks? A stronger KU football team probably is part of the equation for attracting additional band members, but maybe the OSU athletic department is on to something when it recognizes a relationship between a strong band and a strong team.

Putting the university’s best foot forward by filling the field with a top-notch marching band shows pride in KU as well as its football program. That seems like something the KU athletic department should be willing to invest in.