The Ducks almost did it, but congratulations to Auburn on an exciting finish. My niece,
Ashley, was very happy as she graduated from Auburn two years ago. She now owns bragging
rights. “War Eagle”, whatever the heck that means.
There was some controversy with the condition of the field as players from both sides were slipping on a regular
basis. There is nothing worse than being an athlete and not being able to trust your footing. Both teams were equally
affected so it didn’t alter the outcome of the game. I spoke to the sod producer and field supervisor after the game about
the condition of the field. The almighty dollar and the addition of seats were two of the reasons the field didn’t live up to
expectations. The facilities in Glendale for the game are very impressive. The entire facility was built for $455 million
dollars. The field is unique in that it is built on a tray that measures 234 feet wide by 400 feet long and weighs in at
almost 19 million pounds. In most cases, the field is maintained outside on this tray 95% of the time and is then rolled
into the stadium on game day. It takes about an hour to move the field from outside to inside. This particular field never
saw the light of day as was planned. There were numerous problems bringing the field in on the day of the BCS
Championship which led to the problem of the field being so slippery.
The turf itself was bermudagrass that was over-seeded with perennial ryegrass grown right here in Oregon.
Bermudagrass is a great selection for a football field because it has lateral stems both above and below ground called
stolons and rhizomes. This gives the turf tremendous shear strength that allows players to cut and change directions
without any problems. One of the problems with bermudagrass is that it does go dormant in the winter and turns off
color. To solve this problem the turf was over-seeded with 600 pounds of perennial ryegrass, per acre, in September.
This is a very high seeding rate and by January the turf had a very high density of the now dominant ryegrass which
reduced the shear strength of the bermudagrass. Perennial ryegrass is a great visual choice to overseed bermudagrass
with because it has awesome green color and establishes very quickly. It is a bunch type grass though so does not have
lateral stems. It does not have very good shear strength to hold up to the rigors of football players making sharp cuts, so
it isn’t a great football grass. Fibers were added to the soil structure to try to help toughen up the ryegrass root system,
although I don’t think these fibers are very effective in the short term. Ryegrass also tends to be a slippery grass all on its
own. Trying to tee up a golf ball while leaning on your driver on a fertilized ryegrass tee will often lead to your club
slipping out from beneath you. The field was fertilized heavily to push the ryegrass and was juiced up by game time
adding more moisture to the problem.
I think the biggest problem with this field was the fact it was resodded right after the Fiesta Bowl on January 1st and
was never placed back outside. Bleachers were added for these bowl games that did not allow for the field to be put
outdoors at anytime and the roof was also never opened. Between the humidity caused by the roof being closed and the
lack of air movement the field was destined to be slick. It is easy to be a Monday morning quarterback but opening the
roof and bringing in fans for some air movement would have definitely improved the turf. Leaving the turf outdoors until
the day of the game would have been even better but was not possible due to the added bleachers.
I have mentioned the use of iron sulfate in articles before and this is another tool that could have been used to harden
off the turf and at the same time pull most of the moisture out of the turf. There is your inside scoop on field conditions,
and maybe next year adjustments can be made to provide a better turf.
Thanks