Smurf Turf

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Jeshurun

Jeshurun

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I'm just wondering what kind of advantage colored turf offers to the home team. I don't understand it personally, but everyone says it gives BSU a huge home field advantage. I'd think that the people who'd be thrown off the most would be the refs. Maybe someone with more football knowledge can explain why.

FYI - I am not suggesting that the Gophers should color the field Gold or Maroon.
 

I think it's just a home field psychological thing, if it there's any advantage to it in the slightest.
 

The blue turf has to be distracting. I wouldn't schedule a game at Boise unless they put in green turf. But if Boise can have their freaky Smurf Turf, why not have maroon turf here? It would make it harder for opponents to find fumbles.
 

I think it is bush league, seems like boise wants to look like a AAA baseball team. I refuse to watch any games on TV (BSU or Humanitain bowl) Just too distracting.
 

Jeshurun said:
I'm just wondering what kind of advantage colored turf offers to the home team. I don't understand it personally, but everyone says it gives BSU a huge home field advantage. I'd think that the people who'd be thrown off the most would be the refs. Maybe someone with more football knowledge can explain why.

FYI - I am not suggesting that the Gophers should color the field Gold or Maroon.
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The 2 reasons I can think of are:

1. Psychological. Kind of like a pink lockerroom. It's just something you're not used to that I could see giving you a "we're not in Kansas anymore" type of feeling. Pretty minor, though.

2. With all blue jerseys it would make their players tougher to see. It's like ninjas wearing black and running around at night.
 


Funny stuff! I can't imagine it being a distraction after the first snap, but I'm sure the players notice it.

Apparently you can paint it any color and BSU has had it that way since '86, for no other reason than to attract attention, according to Wikipedia -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronco_Stadium
 

Eastern Washington is 6-0 on its red turf. I'm not suggesting that the turf is the reason players win games -- it's not -- but I am suggesting that some coach will see the success of Boise State, look at this small sample size and then decide that it's a good idea at his school, too.
 

I could definately see a scenario where an opposing QB doesn't see a safety or LB and throws a pick because of it.

Stats geeks, get to work on if Boise has a statistically significant difference between home and away interceptions.
 

Another real advantage that I heard on the Worldwide Leader is from opposing coaches trying to breakdown film and having a harder time locating their players at the snap of the ball.

Personally, I don't really care what color a field is but the few clips I saw of Eastern Washington made it tough on the eyes, their red is much brighter than blue.
 



ruralgopher said:
I could definately see a scenario where an opposing QB doesn't see a safety or LB and throws a pick because of it.

Stats geeks, get to work on if Boise has a statistically significant difference between home and away interceptions.
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I've heard that before but don't really understand it. The view of the QB (or any other player) is not the same as what we see on tv. The background would affect the view a lot more than the turf in my opinion.

54770_Utah_St_Boise_St_Football.jpg
 

I don't think the turf causes the Boise players to blend in with the turf, there are plenty of teams who wear green jerseys, and no one complains about them blending in with the turf. I think the turf itself is distracting, it's like the the sky being green.
 

I've never heard a player complain about the turf being distracting. I've heard old guys complain about it but that's about it.
 

SunGopher said:
Another real advantage that I heard on the Worldwide Leader is from opposing coaches trying to breakdown film and having a harder time locating their players at the snap of the ball.

Personally, I don't really care what color a field is but the few clips I saw of Eastern Washington made it tough on the eyes, their red is much brighter than blue.
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Agreed. A couple of people who played at Eastern Washington said the actual game didn't make a difference -- EWU also wears all red like BSU wears all blue -- but coaches said it was much more difficult trying to track things in film study.

I bet there is a psychological advantage in some cases; if there is a kid who *thinks* it makes a huge difference and then starts playing poorly it could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. But that seems like a rare scenario in itself.
 



At field level it is fine but from the stands and on TV it can be painful. I might need to get my eyes adjusted after watching NDSU play on this for four hours tomorrow...

redturf.jpg
 

How come nobody ever complains about Michigan St. wearing green jerseys on green turf?
 

FargoBison said:
At field level it is fine but from the stands and on TV it can be painful. I might need to get my eyes adjusted after watching NDSU play on this for four hours tomorrow...

redturf.jpg
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Bring your sunglasses.
 

The red is worse than the blue. I had heard of the red turf, but never actually seen it. Both of them are painful though. Perhaps someone should make a fluorescent green turf for balance. Nearly every other turf is green, but glowingly green.
 


Isn't there a rule in the NCAA bylaws that states an FBS or FCS team can't make their turf colored anything other than green outside of the end zones after what Boise St. did?
 

frozengopher said:
Isn't there a rule in the NCAA bylaws that states an FBS or FCS team can't make their turf colored anything other than green outside of the end zones after what Boise St. did?
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Nope, I guess as long as a school has the proper markings on the field they can have whatever color turf they desire.
 

Penn St. could go with the white field. It would look like the fields on Madden 96.

But no, there is no rule against colored turf (to the best of my knowledge). I have heard other people claim that there is one, but I believe it's a myth.
 




frozengopher said:
Isn't there a rule in the NCAA bylaws that states an FBS or FCS team can't make their turf colored anything other than green outside of the end zones after what Boise St. did?
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That was a rumor, but it was never actually a rule
 

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