The Boise State Broncos have a lot of things most teams in major college football do not have, including an All-American under center, the reining Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year and a national-leading 23-game win streak.

The program also has something no team in the Football Bowl Subdivision can boast, and it is making life a lot more difficult for opposing coaches: a blue playing surface.

The Broncos’ blend of uniforms and playing surface has forced coaches into film study overtime in an effort to slow down Boise State’s elite combination of offense and defense, making it arguably the top non-automatic qualifying team in the past decade.

Since 1999, the Broncos have posted an unsurpassed 71-2 record in Bronco Stadium. Boise State’s last conference loss was by way of a 27-7 defeat to head coach Pat Hill and Fresno State. But since that game on Nov. 10, 2005, Boise State has ripped off 60 wins to just four losses, including 31 straight on the infamous Smurf Turf. The Broncos’ last loss on their home field came in the 2005 MPC Computers Bowl to Boston College. Boise State has not lost a regular-season contest at home since falling to Washington State 41-20 nine years ago.

Despite the apparent advantage head coach Chris Petersen and the Broncos have with their abnormal home field, Hill insists it has more to do with the talent filling the blue uniforms rather than the color of the grass.

“It’s really not the blue field and the contrast,” Hill said. “It’s that the guys in the blue jerseys are real good. From a coaching standpoint watching film is difficult because of the blend in. It’s hard to get numbers. They’ve got silver numbers. The preparation time is hard. Once you get to the game everybody will see each other””that’s not the problem.”

As difficult as it may be to spot its players on home film, the Boise State statistics are eye-popping on paper. The Broncos are ranked second in the country in both points for (47.6) and points against (12.8) and are led by the nation’s most efficient quarterback Kellen Moore.

Like last Saturday’s narrow loss at home to Nevada, Fresno State will be competing once again before a national television audience, giving the ‘Dogs plenty of exposure as they try to do what no one has done since the 2008 San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl: Beat Boise State.

“(We) get to play, once again, a national TV game against an elite team in the country,” Hill said. “Those opportunities are very, very tough assignments but they are great opportunities if you can go win the game.”

Boise State is coming off a 52-14 drubbing of in-state rival Idaho last Friday, giving Petersen two extra days to prepare for Fresno State. Because this week’s matchup will be played on Friday night, the Bulldogs have to adjust quickly from the heartbreaking loss to Nevada. Hill said immediately following the loss to the Wolf Pack, the coaching staff began studying film of Boise State in the early hours of Sunday morning trying to cram two days worth of preparation into one and a half.

“You do whatever you have to do to get prepared,” Hill said. “If you’ve got one less day to do it, you just do it in one less day. So I’d say we’re equal, they’ve just got a little bit more time to get it done.”

In the short week, Hill said he would have his team working substantially on silent counts and audibles in an attempt to neutralize the raucous 32,000 fans that will be in attendance in Bronco Stadium.

Game planning for hostile territories is nothing new to Fresno State, however. The Bulldogs have already played in front of close to 60,000 in Mississippi’s Vaught-Hemingway Stadium earlier this season, and battled in front of 80,000 fans in Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium last year, one of the rowdiest venues in the country.

“Those fans there are on it from snap to whistle,” Hill said of the Bronco faithful. “They’re on their feet the whole time when you’re on offense. They don’t just step up on third down.”

But harsh crowds and conditions aside, if Fresno State is going to knock Boise State out of Bowl Championship Series contention, Hill said it will come down to the Bulldogs’ readiness for the tall task.

“It’s going to come down to execution, bottom line,” Hill said. “Preparation. It’s not about the hype, it’s not about jumping up and down, it’s not about running through a banner, and it’s about executing. And when the play has to be made we’ve got to make it.”