It was 4th-and-1 at the Idaho 47, and instead of electing to punt to pin the Vandals deep inside their own 20, head coach Pat Hill decided to gamble for the first down.
On fourth down, running back Robbie Rouse took the handoff, sprinted left, and before he could cut up field for a first down, Rouse slipped and fell a yard short to turn the ball over on downs to Idaho.
That’s how slippery the playing surface is at Bulldog Stadium during this time of the year.
“During the year, our field is a great field to play on: It’s hard, it’s fast, it’s low cut,” Hill said. “Then at the end of the year: It’s fast, it’s low cut, it’s hard and then when it gets wet… It’s like your sliding on skid marks. It’s a different kind of slick. It’s a very slick field.”
Fresno State and New Mexico State are the only schools in the Western Athletic Conference that still play on a natural surface. While most Football Bowl Subdivision schools have updated their fields to an artificial playing surface, Fresno State hasn’t and it shows on game days.
“The field is going to be””until we get FieldTurf””the field is going to be an issue,” Hill said. “[Against] Illinois, it’ll be an issue for both teams.”
Hill has campaigned for FieldTurf, a synthetic and artificial turf, for the past few years, but the athletics department have not been able to fundraise enough money for the artificial surface.
Many players and coaches prefer FieldTurf because the surface is not affected by mother nature.
“People are going to FieldTurf for the simple reason that it never effects the game””no matter how wet it is,” Hill said. “We’ve played in some downpours on FieldTurf and [the rain] really doesn’t affect it.
[That’s] the biggest reason why we are really trying hard for FieldTurf. We need to have a field to play on.”
According to running back A.J. Ellis, playing on natural grass can be dangerous for players this late in the year, especially when the weather conditions are sloppy and poor.
Ellis said that players have to play with caution on a slippery and grassy field.
“You have to be more careful about what kind of cuts you make, you got to make sure you just run straight ahead,” Hill said.”You can’t make too many cuts or you’ll slip. Your legs [can] get caught or your legs might twist something in a wrong way. So, you have to be careful.”
Ellis prefers playing on FieldTurf as compared to the natural grass because he likes the artificial playing surface. Ellis said that his ability to make cuts is not limited by weather on FieldTurf as compared to a natural field.
“The artificial turf, you have a little more leeway to make cuts because especially on our grass it’s real thin””it’s almost like playing on mud,” he said.
While the artificial turf does have its benefits, many argue that because the weather in Fresno reaches above the triple digits in the summer, it can elevate the heat on the playing surface, making its players prone to injuries and cramping.
“Early in the year, FieldTurf will not be the choice of many teams coming to Fresno when its 100 degrees and the FieldTurf is 115, but there’s a lot of people who do it in very hot weather,” Hill said. “The tradeoff is amazingly great.”