As the reconstruction of Ball State Stadium continues, and thefive-year plan to increase the facilities of our football programat Ball State, there is some debate what the next step wouldbe.
While lights are fine and good, and necessary to increaseattendance, they do not help the Cardinals get homefieldadvantage.
Homefield advantage is more important in NCAA football than itis in any other sport, I learned from playing NCAA football 2004.And, since we don't have the massive amounts of loud, pumped upfans who can drown out audiables, intimidate players, and generatea homefield advantage, we need to look to other sources to makeBall State Stadium strike fear into the hears of our opponents.
My suggestion for the next structural improvement, and one thatwould also improve our homefield advantage, is red turf.
First off, the red turf would, by itself, be intimidating. Notjust because red turf is a quite intimidating color, but it is alsored.
The turf could also be confusing for opponents, as our red andwhite uniforms would blend in with the red and white lines on thefield. That could give much needed help to our pass defense, as aquarterback may overlook a defender on a target if, during the fewseconds he has to pick a receiver, he cannot easily pick out a BallState player.
Our players, meanwhile, would be used to playing on the redturf, and therefore would give us an advantage going into thegame.
No, this idea is not new, as Boise State has blue turf on theirfield, but it would give Ball State Stadium a unique look thatcould improve the way outsiders look at the field.
Now, obviously these are not the only advantages to red turf.Should we advance to a bowl game or the Mid-American Conferencechampionship, we would have plenty of experience on artificialturf.
Of course, care would have to be taken in order to insure thefield was not too ugly or too red in order to make sure the fieldwas a good color. Perhaps a committee or a class could be organizedto ensure the proper shade of red could be selected.
The most important thing that red turf would establish, however,would be a unique experience for Ball State football, something thesport drastically needs. Yes, we have a young team right now. Butthe fact remains that the interest in college football in Indianais limited to Notre Dame and Purdue, and that getting fans to BallState Stadium is difficult.
Red turf, while it wouldn't change all that, would be a uniqueexperience that may draw out fans and students to at least onegame.
Maybe no one will come out just to see red turf, but maybe, justmaybe, it will be that spark needed to re-spark interest into BallState football.
Or maybe a winning season would do that better.
Write to Will at
wjohargan@bsu.edu
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