8 Crazy Colored College Football Fields That Boise State Approved

The countdown Boise State football is on!

New head coach, Spencer Danielson and his staff put together the strongest recruiting class Boise State has ever seen and from what they're saying on the news, it's quite possibly the strongest class in the Mountain West. They've got some BIG games coming up in 2024, including a showdown with the Ducks at Oregon, but the season begins on the road against Georgia Southern on August 31.

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If we were betting people, we'd place money on the announcers talking about our iconic Blue Turf when the Broncos eventually play their first home game. Living in the Treasure Valley, seeing the blue isn't new. For college football fans living outside of Idaho? Well, it's the one thing the Broncos are known for.

Sure, we rather be known for the incredible win and trick plays ran against Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl...or really any of our Fiesta Bowl appearances. They've all been thrillers! But some people don't know the Broncos for that or as the school that helped Kellen Moore become the winningest college football quarterback of all time. Nope, they know us for our famous blue turf.

Earning the nickname "Smurf Turf' the unconventional has been a staple of Albertsons Stadium since 1986. The university was due to spend about $750,000 on replacing the stadium's green turf. Gene Bleymaier (Boise State's athletic director at the time) wanted to do something to force people to recognize that the university had upgraded its playing surface. According to the Coloradoan, the manufacturer wasn't thrilled about the idea of making a blue field at first, but when BSU made the threat to go with another company who would, AstroTurf agreed to it.

Since its installation, there have been tons of myths about The Blue.  From ducks getting hurt or killed by crashing into it because they thought it was a lake, to opposing teams having a hard time seeing the Broncos when they would wear all blue uniforms on the field, we've pretty much heard it all. (BTW, the story about the ducks is an urban legend.)

But, one thing that is true about Boise State and "The Blue?" The university owns the trademark for all non-green field turf surfaces. That means if teams, regardless if they are high schools or colleges, want to use a colored playing surface, they must have the blessing of Boise State to move forward with installation.

Boise State's usually really good about granting free licensing in those situations. They mainly want to make sure that it's not a team that competes with us on the field in the recruiting process. It wasn't until 23 years after The Blue was installed that another college wanted to use blue turf. Boise State approved the license for the University of New Haven to move forward as long as they clearly referred to their field as the "Blue and Yellow."

That was in 2009 and it's the first field on our list of seven fields that BSU gave the thumbs up to.