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re: SEC Football Playing Surfaces. Only 3 have turf!
Posted on 12/22/23 at 3:29 pm to McMillan
Posted on 12/22/23 at 3:29 pm to McMillan
quote:
Grass doesn’t grow well at Faurot. George Toma, the longtime groundskeeper for the Chiefs, said the problem with Faurot was that there was way too much sand so the roots had nothing to hold onto. That's why especially early in the season you would see clumps of turf come up, which is why astroturf has been used since the mid 80’s.
This is ironic, because I remember back in the '70's and early '80's when OU ran the wishbone, anytime we went to Columbia they'd have grown the grass to about shin high to slow it down. It was laughable. That being said, when I was on Owen field in the early '80's it was carpet, with about a 3/4 inch compression, but the crown at the center of the field was so high you could only see the heads of the players standing on the other sidelines and you were running downhill toward the sidelines. I actually got a hairline fracture in a metatarsal in '83 from it when I turned my ankle on a cut.
This post was edited on 12/22/23 at 3:39 pm
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Posted on 12/22/23 at 3:35 pm to Sooner a Reb
quote:
This is ironic, because I remember back in the '70's and early '80's when OU ran the wishbone, anytime we went to Columbia they'd have grown the grass to about shin high to slow it down. It was laughable. That being said, when I was on Owen field in the early '80's it was carpet, with about a 3/4 inch compression, but the arch at the center of the field was so high you could only see the heads of the players standing on the other sidelines and you were running downhill toward the sidelines. I actually got a hairline fracture in a metatarsal in '83 from it when I turned my ankle on a cut.
I remember the complaints about Mizzou's grass very well.
As far as the "arch" on Owen field. It is called a "crown" and believe it or not, they cut the crown way down when they installed the turf in 1970. Before that (when it was grass) it was even higher.
Then when they went back to grass in 1994, they completely removed the "crown". Pancake flat now.
Posted on 12/23/23 at 10:28 am to Sooner a Reb
quote:
the crown at the center of the field was so high...you were running downhill toward the sidelines.
That's actually where the term "running downhill" came from in college football, coming down off the crown. The higher the crown, the more advantage to the offense on running plays. Today they seem to use the term to refer to running downfield.
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