100 Days, 100 Reasons G6 Football Matters

In 1986, Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier had a problem most ADs would consider routine. Bronco Stadium needed new artificial turf. Budget: $750,000. The standard move was to rip up the old green carpet and lay down a new green carpet. Nobody would notice. Nobody would care.

Bleymaier had a different idea. He called AstroTurf and asked if they could make the field blue — Bronco blue. They were reluctant. He told them he’d take his business elsewhere. They made it blue.

On September 13, 1986, Boise State unveiled the first non-green playing surface in football history. The Broncos beat Division II Humboldt State 74-0 that day, but the score didn’t matter. The turf did. A small program in the Big Sky Conference had just created the most recognizable home field in college football.

The Blue became Boise State’s brand. Recruits who had never heard of Boise, Idaho, knew about The Blue. Television audiences could identify the field from a single aerial shot. Visiting teams hated it. Opposing coaches complained about it. The Mountain West Conference banned the Broncos from wearing all-blue uniforms on the blue field during conference games, though the rule was later lifted. The NFL banned non-green playing surfaces entirely, calling it the Boise Rule.

The numbers tell the rest of the story. Since The Blue was installed, Boise State’s home record sits at roughly 205-45 — an .820 winning percentage across four decades. The Broncos built a program that competed for BCS bowls, produced NFL talent and forced the national conversation about whether the little guys deserved a seat at the table. The Blue was the foundation of all of it.

Other programs followed. Eastern Washington installed a red field in 2010. Coastal Carolina went teal in 2015. But Boise was first, and Boise made it mean something. A $750,000 turf replacement became a nationwide recruiting pitch, a television brand and the home-field advantage that powered one of the most dominant programs outside the Power 4.

Gene Bleymaier didn’t just change the color of a football field. He proved that a program with no budget, no tradition and no national profile could build all three from scratch — if it was willing to be different.

They told you it didn’t matter. Here are 100 reasons it does.