boisesuns
Standing Tall And Traded
Oregon State travels to Boise for the 20th anniversary of the Blue Turf. The Game will be live on ESPN at 7:45 eastern time on Thursday night.
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Boise State football coach Chris Petersen arrived at BSU in 2001, just as talk was heating up about replacing the turf in Bronco Stadium.
He was ready for a change from the famous — some would say infamous — blue field.
"I'm thinking, 'Well of course it's going to be green,' " Petersen said. " 'They're going to get back to their senses.' "
Five years later, Petersen took control of the program that will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its signature field this season. And now he is a big fan of the only blue field in college football.
The Broncos, who installed their third blue field in 2002, begin their 21st season on the blue at 7:06 p.m. Thursday against Sacramento State.
"Our guys love to play on the blue," Petersen said. "They like to defend the blue. We talk about a blue-collar work ethic. It all ties in. And you don't have to be here very long for that theme to be very contagious to everybody involved in this program."
The Broncos are 108-30 on the blue — a 78.3 winning percentage. They have won 31 of their past 32 games at Bronco Stadium and have lost just twice there in the past
seven seasons. The university even built a marketing campaign around the blue turf, called "Beyond the Blue."
The blue field concept dates back to 1986, when BSU athletic director Gene Bleymaier learned how much it would cost him to replace the aging AstroTurf in Bronco Stadium — about $600,000.
The stadium opened in 1970 and had gone through two green fields already.
Bleymaier, who took over the athletic department in 1982, wanted a little extra bang for his buck.
"We figured that if we're going to spend that much money and put a brand-new field in," Bleymaier said, "we'd like people to notice."
So he went blue — a tie-in with the school colors of blue and orange.
Bleymaier kept the idea quiet at first because he was worried public disapproval would derail his plan. He went to the school president for approval, then talked to AstroTurf.
The turf company bristled at the idea, which has been applauded by some and ripped by others over the years.
"They tried to talk us out of it," Bleymaier said. "AstroTurf wanted no part of it, really. They had done thousands of green fields, but they had never done a blue field. They really didn't want to do it. They tried to talk us out of it. I finally said, 'If you don't do it, we'll find somebody else that will.' "
The Broncos broke in their electric-blue field Sept. 13, 1986, against Humboldt State. They used a blue-and-orange football for the opening kickoff and posted a 74-0 win — still the school record for largest margin of victory.
Pete Kwiatkowski, now the defensive line coach at BSU, played on that Broncos team. He says the field looked funky, but the players grew to love it.
Opponents were less impressed.
"They thought it was a joke, a circus, but whatever gets in their head," Kwiatkowski said.
The turf remains the subject of at least two pervasive myths.
Many people think the NCAA outlawed non-green fields but allowed BSU to keep using blue. That's not true.
The NCAA has no rules about the color of a football field.
Many people also have heard about birds mistaking the blue turf for a lake and crashing onto the field.
That myth started quickly, possibly because the first field was a huge blue rectangle before the lines were added.
Bleymaier one morning in 1986 found a videographer inside the stadium hoping to "watch the ducks land."
"I said, 'Well, you might be waiting a long time,' " Bleymaier recalls. "He said, 'That's OK. They're paying me very well to be here.' "
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http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060827/NEWS0301/608270464/1038
Boise State football coach Chris Petersen arrived at BSU in 2001, just as talk was heating up about replacing the turf in Bronco Stadium.
He was ready for a change from the famous — some would say infamous — blue field.
"I'm thinking, 'Well of course it's going to be green,' " Petersen said. " 'They're going to get back to their senses.' "
Five years later, Petersen took control of the program that will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its signature field this season. And now he is a big fan of the only blue field in college football.
The Broncos, who installed their third blue field in 2002, begin their 21st season on the blue at 7:06 p.m. Thursday against Sacramento State.
"Our guys love to play on the blue," Petersen said. "They like to defend the blue. We talk about a blue-collar work ethic. It all ties in. And you don't have to be here very long for that theme to be very contagious to everybody involved in this program."
The Broncos are 108-30 on the blue — a 78.3 winning percentage. They have won 31 of their past 32 games at Bronco Stadium and have lost just twice there in the past
seven seasons. The university even built a marketing campaign around the blue turf, called "Beyond the Blue."
The blue field concept dates back to 1986, when BSU athletic director Gene Bleymaier learned how much it would cost him to replace the aging AstroTurf in Bronco Stadium — about $600,000.
The stadium opened in 1970 and had gone through two green fields already.
Bleymaier, who took over the athletic department in 1982, wanted a little extra bang for his buck.
"We figured that if we're going to spend that much money and put a brand-new field in," Bleymaier said, "we'd like people to notice."
So he went blue — a tie-in with the school colors of blue and orange.
Bleymaier kept the idea quiet at first because he was worried public disapproval would derail his plan. He went to the school president for approval, then talked to AstroTurf.
The turf company bristled at the idea, which has been applauded by some and ripped by others over the years.
"They tried to talk us out of it," Bleymaier said. "AstroTurf wanted no part of it, really. They had done thousands of green fields, but they had never done a blue field. They really didn't want to do it. They tried to talk us out of it. I finally said, 'If you don't do it, we'll find somebody else that will.' "
The Broncos broke in their electric-blue field Sept. 13, 1986, against Humboldt State. They used a blue-and-orange football for the opening kickoff and posted a 74-0 win — still the school record for largest margin of victory.
Pete Kwiatkowski, now the defensive line coach at BSU, played on that Broncos team. He says the field looked funky, but the players grew to love it.
Opponents were less impressed.
"They thought it was a joke, a circus, but whatever gets in their head," Kwiatkowski said.
The turf remains the subject of at least two pervasive myths.
Many people think the NCAA outlawed non-green fields but allowed BSU to keep using blue. That's not true.
The NCAA has no rules about the color of a football field.
Many people also have heard about birds mistaking the blue turf for a lake and crashing onto the field.
That myth started quickly, possibly because the first field was a huge blue rectangle before the lines were added.
Bleymaier one morning in 1986 found a videographer inside the stadium hoping to "watch the ducks land."
"I said, 'Well, you might be waiting a long time,' " Bleymaier recalls. "He said, 'That's OK. They're paying me very well to be here.' "
