College Football: You Can't Be Blue! Boise State Blue Uniforms Banned at Home

According to a story posted earlier today on USA Today one of the conditions of Boise State joining the Mountain West Conference for the 2011 season was that they wouldn’t wear their blue jerseys for home conference games.

Purportedly opposing MWC coaches have deemed the uniforms an unfair “competitive advantage” reigniting the heated topic of whether or not field color actually has an effect on the outcome of games.

The Broncos are 63-2 on their home field in the last decade while they are just 46-11 away from the friendly confines of the blue turf.

Though the stats clearly prove that Boise State is more successful at home does that mean that the color of the “grass” (you can’t really call it grass, can you) made the difference?

Case in point, Oklahoma is 61-2 over the past decade at home in Memorial Stadium while they are just 30-13 on the road; does that mean that it’s unfair when the Sooners play in Norman?

Similarly, Ohio State is 64-7 at Ohio Stadium over the last 10 years and 34-11 on the road…does that mean that the horseshoe shape is an unfair “competitive advantage?”

Yes, if it is truly an unfair advantage to opposing teams how does QB Kellen Moore still manage to find his receivers downfield and become the No. 1 passer in college football?

Additionally, don’t the players on the field have a different view of the “blue on blue” effect that we see on TV?  By this I mean doesn’t a player see things three dimensionally with the backdrop actually being the sidelines and end zones rather than the field itself (from overhead)?

Regardless of your take on the fairness or unfairness of the field and the mandate by the Mountain West Conference, in 2011 Boise State will take their dazzlingly sapphire home field while wearing white or orange jerseys and then we shall see if they can maintain their stunning home record (that hasn’t suffered a loss since 2005).

Here’s the lineup; October 22 – Air Force, November 12 – TCU, November 26 –Wyoming and December 3 – New Mexico. 

Ironically, the Broncos two toughest in-conference tests are slated for their home field and now minus the huge benefits of the infamous “camouflage” effect.  You can easily argue that Wyoming and New Mexico (who had four wins between them last season) will be beaten regardless of any inequitable benefits but TCU and Air Force will be stern tests regardless of the hues being orchestrated.

Though the color of Boise State’s turf has always seemed alarming to me personally, I can’t see that there is an inherent advantage (other than from a marketing standpoint) to the blue field. 

If fairness truly is an issue then the NCAA should mandate that grass is green and therefore football fields are required to mirror nature.

However, currently the National Collegiate Athletic Association seems to have a lot bigger fish to fry, that is at least in terms of college football and fairness.