| For the casual football fan whose experience with | | | | the school opted to install the new field covering |
| the college game may extend no farther than | | | | using one of the team's uniform colors - blue and |
| catching an occasional game with his buddies at | | | | orange. Blue got the nod, and the rest is history. |
| the bar, Boise State's Broncos football team can | | | | Is it an unfair advantage? |
| cause quite a bit of consternation. As members | | | | There has been some talk over the last 25 years |
| of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), they | | | | that the blue field at Broncos Stadium, juxtaposed |
| first captured the attention of much of the nation | | | | against the blue of the team's uniform, provides |
| in the 2006-07 campaign. That season saw the | | | | the Boise State team with an unfair advantage of |
| Broncos go undefeated with 13 wins, and then | | | | sorts. The theory is that the similar colors enable |
| beat the mighty Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta | | | | the Boise State players to effectively blend into |
| Bowl game. For the last several seasons, the | | | | the field, making it harder for opposing teams to |
| Broncos have remained one of the best - and | | | | locate them. Most analysts have agreed that the |
| perhaps underrated - teams in the country. Even | | | | argument is somewhat of a silly one, especially |
| though they managed another undefeated 14 | | | | when you consider how many teams have or |
| victory season in 2009, they were never | | | | have had green as a part of their uniform design |
| seriously considered for title contention. Oddly | | | | down through the years - and no one ever |
| enough, though, for most casual fans the Boise | | | | seriously thought that they were camouflaged. |
| State football's team has not been the real | | | | The coach of Louisiana Tech once pointedly |
| attention-getter - it has been the fact that they | | | | refuted any thought of an advantage due to |
| play on a blue field! | | | | uniform or field color by remarking that the |
| Bronco Stadium | | | | biggest problem his team ever had when playing |
| That blue field in Bronco Stadium has been the | | | | Boise State was that the Broncos players were |
| subject of much consternation and conversation | | | | so talented. |
| over the last several decades. Alone among all | | | | The blue exception |
| college football programs, Boise State decided to | | | | Nevertheless, the NCAA has made it a rule that |
| make their field blue in part out of a desire to get | | | | no other teams can ever use blue when |
| the most out of their three quarters of a million | | | | retrofitting their stadiums, which means that the |
| dollar Astro turf change in 1985. Since the turf | | | | Broncos will be the only team to host games on a |
| was going to be so expensive anyway, the | | | | blue field. They get to keep their field due to an |
| decision was made that there was no reason to | | | | exception in the rule. For the Boise State Broncos, |
| settle for the new Astro turf looking exactly the | | | | playing on blue turf has become a habit that will |
| same as the old. In an attempt to gain publicity | | | | undoubtedly remain a part of the team's |
| for the turf's installation, the decision makers at | | | | attraction far into the future. |
