By Mountain West rule, Boise State’s fall fashion is only kind of blue
The Mountain West has already given its newest member one big break, voting earlier this year to move the Boise State-TCU showdown that will likely decide the conference championship to the Smurf Turf in Boise, where the Broncos have won 63 consecutive regular-season games since 2001. The favor comes with just one tiny catch from the conference office: The blue-on-blue motif has got to go.
LAS VEGAS — The Boise State football team will not be allowed to wear blue pants and blue jerseys in home Mountain West Conference games, coach Chris Petersen said Monday.
The prohibition applies only to Boise State and was part of the school's agreement to join the league.
"I thought it was ridiculous," Petersen said of his reaction. "…That's our colors. That's who we are. That's who our fans have wanted us to be since I've been at Boise State. That's what it's been through and through."
Squinting television viewers and visiting teams reviewing game film have been trying for years to adjust their sets for all-blue uniforms on an all-blue field, mostly without success. (Though the introduction of high-definition TVs and the installation of brand new turf last summer have dramatically reduced the on-screen glare.) San Diego State coach Rocky Long welcomed the Broncos to the conference in April by calling the blue turf "unfair," and suggested it be ripped up because it forces opposing players to "track the ball differently" than they're accustomed to on a traditional green field. Either most of Long's colleagues share the sentiment, or they just really, really dug the all-orange getup the Broncos broke out last year against Fresno State.
Fortunately for Boise, the Swoosh provides: With three different home jerseys (blue, orange and gray) and three different pants (blue, orange and white), the Broncos have enough options in stock to come out in new threads on a weekly basis. "Nike has saved us by giving us a bunch of different combinations," Petersen said. "…If we can't wear what we want to wear, then we will wear a bunch of different other stuff."
See, that's why they're successful: Resourcefulness.
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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.