When Oregon State University's football team takes to its practice field in Corvallis on Tuesday, players will notice something very different: The field is now blue.
An anonymous donor provided the money for OSU to paint the field so that it mimics the surface at Boise State's Bronco Stadium, where the No. 24 Beavers will square off against the No. 3 Broncos in a nationally televised game Saturday. OSU sports information director Steve Fink told The Oregonian that the field first had to be painted white in order for the blue to stick. A total of 440 gallons of paint were used.
The transformation from green to so-called "Smurf turf" began early Monday morning and wrapped up later in the day; no word yet on how long it will take to wash away the blue and the white. Oregonian scribe Lindsay Schnell says the color switch was a "clever" solution to scheduling conflicts that will prevent OSU from holding a walk-through practice at Bronco Stadium on Friday.
Montana followed a similar strategy last week, but on a much smaller scale, practicing in its maroon-colored home-stadium end zones to prepare for its game on Eastern Washington's new red turf at Roos Field last Saturday. But in the end, the Grizzlies fell to EWU, 36-27.
