Zips still using outdoor practice field?

[InTheZone]

Just wondering, since I haven't gotten over to watch practice since the stadium was completed. From what I've seen, all the team's outdoor practices have been at the new stadium. If that's the case, that outdoor field half a mile away from the field house was the biggest waste of money ever. I never really understood why they didn't build the outdoor practice field on the spot the original plans called for, which is where the softball stadium is now. They could've put a grass practice field there, gated it off so as to connect it to the field house, and we would truly have an all inclusive first rate practice facility. They could've put the softball stadium where they put the practice field. As it is, we wasted money on a field halfway across campus that the team never uses because it's easier just to walk to the stadium.

[g-mann17]

Half a mile? Really?

That field is all of 300 (818 ft to be precise) yards away at most. And it and the grass field south of it is also used by the Soccer team for practice. Not really a waste of money at all in my opinion. The wanted the entrances to all of the facilities in the same general area so they could have a single event plaza.

[tbozeglav]

While its true that football primarily uses the indoor facility and the stadium for their practices, almost all the other sports use the outdoor practice field. I cant count the number of times i've seen both mens and women's soccer practicing on that field, in addition to the outdoor club sports (field hockey, lacrosse) and the intramural sports (flag football especially). Its not a waste of money - it's a very useful facility because it can support a large number of sports at any time because of its surface.

Having the softball, baseball, soccer, and track facilities all at that main juncture will allow the university the possibility to build a very nice sports plaza. Once the new soccer stadium is completed and the baseball facility is upgraded, that area of campus will be a much more than just 4 playing fields that happen to be situated next to each other with sidewalks inbetween.

[InTheZone]

Half a mile? Really?

That field is all of 300 (818 ft to be precise) yards away at most. And it and the grass field south of it is also used by the Soccer team for practice. Not really a waste of money at all in my opinion. The wanted the entrances to all of the facilities in the same general area so they could have a single event plaza.

They could've still built the softball stadium where the turf field is now and put the entrance to the eventual "all sports plaza" on the OTHER side which would've been incredibly convenient being right next to multiple parking garages and all. I just think it was kind of silly to put a practice field that far away from the fieldhouse. The original plans called for 2 hundred yard fields, one turf and one grass, right up next to the fieldhouse, and this would've been great for both soccer and football, as it would've been basically connected to the football locker room and and a whole heckuva lot closer to the soccer lockerroom in the JAR. Poor poor planning if you ask me.

[g-mann17]

Half a mile? Really?

That field is all of 300 (818 ft to be precise) yards away at most. And it and the grass field south of it is also used by the Soccer team for practice. Not really a waste of money at all in my opinion. The wanted the entrances to all of the facilities in the same general area so they could have a single event plaza.

They could've still built the softball stadium where the turf field is now and put the entrance to the eventual "all sports plaza" on the OTHER side which would've been incredibly convenient being right next to multiple parking garages and all. I just think it was kind of silly to put a practice field that far away from the fieldhouse. The original plans called for 2 hundred yard fields, one turf and one grass, right up next to the fieldhouse, and this would've been great for both soccer and football, as it would've been basically connected to the football locker room and and a whole heckuva lot closer to the soccer lockerroom in the JAR. Poor poor planning if you ask me.

You must be awfully lazy. If you think walking a very short par 4 to a field is "inconvenient".

[MaxZIP]

JD and Coach I have both said that they practice in the stadium to increase the team's comfort level in their home stadium. The intent is to increase any potential home field advantage.

[InTheZone]

Half a mile? Really?

That field is all of 300 (818 ft to be precise) yards away at most. And it and the grass field south of it is also used by the Soccer team for practice. Not really a waste of money at all in my opinion. The wanted the entrances to all of the facilities in the same general area so they could have a single event plaza.

They could've still built the softball stadium where the turf field is now and put the entrance to the eventual "all sports plaza" on the OTHER side which would've been incredibly convenient being right next to multiple parking garages and all. I just think it was kind of silly to put a practice field that far away from the fieldhouse. The original plans called for 2 hundred yard fields, one turf and one grass, right up next to the fieldhouse, and this would've been great for both soccer and football, as it would've been basically connected to the football locker room and and a whole heckuva lot closer to the soccer lockerroom in the JAR. Poor poor planning if you ask me.

You must be awfully lazy. If you think walking a very short par 4 to a field is "inconvenient".

I'm just saying it could've been done better and it was supposed to be done better. That's like if you owned a large piece of property and wanted to put a pool in your back yard, but you built the pool "a short par 4" away from your house instead of right out your back door. Is it a horrible walk? no. Is it an inconvenience that makes no sense? Yes.

[InTheZone]

JD and Coach I have both said that they practice in the stadium to increase the team's comfort level in their home stadium. The intent is to increase any potential home field advantage.

Right, and I think that's fine, but my only concern is in weeks where we play on the road at a "grass team", there's nowhere for this team to practice on grass (and yes, for those of you who have never played, the feel of grass and even field turf is very different, and when all you've gotten used to is playing on turf for the whole year and offseason, playing on grass can have a weird feel to it that our team should have the opportunity to get used to before gameday).

[tbozeglav]

InTheZone, you bring up valid points about the grass field practice. Thats a significant disadvantage to us, but I would be curious to see how many fields we've played at that have grass and not turf.

Either way, I think its safe to assume that the football team doesn't use it for obvious reasons (Infocision Stadium - its closer!), but just because football doesnt use it doesn't mean that its a waste.

[g-mann17]

JD and Coach I have both said that they practice in the stadium to increase the team's comfort level in their home stadium. The intent is to increase any potential home field advantage.

Right, and I think that's fine, but my only concern is in weeks where we play on the road at a "grass team", there's nowhere for this team to practice on grass (and yes, for those of you who have never played, the feel of grass and even field turf is very different, and when all you've gotten used to is playing on turf for the whole year and offseason, playing on grass can have a weird feel to it that our team should have the opportunity to get used to before gameday).

There is a 50 yard grass practice field (well maintained) south of the other practice field. 820 feet away from the field house.

[MaxZIP]

InTheZone, you bring up valid points about the grass field practice. Thats a significant disadvantage to us, but I would be curious to see how many fields we've played at that have grass and not turf.

Either way, I think its safe to assume that the football team doesn't use it for obvious reasons (Infocision Stadium - its closer!), but just because football doesnt use it doesn't mean that its a waste.

Temple is the only MAC school that plays on natural grass (NFL stadium).

[johnnyzip84]

I hadn't thought about this until this discussion, but all 13 football playing members of the MAC now play on some sort of artificial turf. I believe UB (2005), BG (2007), OU (2003) and Ball St (2007) have all switched from grass somewhat recently. Of course, that still leaves the possiblity of non-con games being played on grass.

Edit: Forgot about Temple and the LINK. That seems like a major disadvantage when playing them there.

[MaxZIP]

I hadn't thought about this until this discussion, but all 13 football playing members of the MAC now play on some sort of artificial turf. I believe UB (2005), BG (2007), OU (2003) and Ball St (2007) have all switched from grass somewhat recently. Of course, that still leaves the possiblity of non-con games being played on grass.

They played on grass once last year (Penn State) and will play twice this year (Kentucky, Temple). The MAC title game is on artificial turf as well. Seems like the 50 yard practice field is fine for the frequency of play on natural grass.

[tbozeglav]

I hadn't thought about this until this discussion, but all 13 football playing members of the MAC now play on some sort of artificial turf. I believe UB (2005), BG (2007), OU (2003) and Ball St (2007) have all switched from grass somewhat recently. Of course, that still leaves the possiblity of non-con games being played on grass.

They played on grass once last year (Penn State) and will play twice this year (Kentucky, Temple). The MAC title game is on artificial turf as well. Seems like the 50 yard practice field is fine for the frequency of play on natural grass.

Thats what I thought. You could say its a disadvantage, but when nearly your entire conference and the conference championship game are on turf, its just smarter to go with the it since you'll be playing on it more frequently. If we average something like 2 games per season on grass, there's just no significant need to have a full 100 yard dedicated practice field.

[MaxZIP]

I hadn't thought about this until this discussion, but all 13 football playing members of the MAC now play on some sort of artificial turf. I believe UB (2005), BG (2007), OU (2003) and Ball St (2007) have all switched from grass somewhat recently. Of course, that still leaves the possiblity of non-con games being played on grass.

They played on grass once last year (Penn State) and will play twice this year (Kentucky, Temple). The MAC title game is on artificial turf as well. Seems like the 50 yard practice field is fine for the frequency of play on natural grass.

Thats what I thought. You could say its a disadvantage, but when nearly your entire conference and the conference championship game are on turf, its just smarter to go with the it since you'll be playing on it more frequently. If we average something like 2 games per season on grass, there's just no significant need to have a full 100 yard dedicated practice field.

Use of synthetic turf is increasing in the FBS. Pretty soon natural grass will be a rarity.

[InTheZone]

I hadn't thought about this until this discussion, but all 13 football playing members of the MAC now play on some sort of artificial turf. I believe UB (2005), BG (2007), OU (2003) and Ball St (2007) have all switched from grass somewhat recently. Of course, that still leaves the possiblity of non-con games being played on grass.

They played on grass once last year (Penn State) and will play twice this year (Kentucky, Temple). The MAC title game is on artificial turf as well. Seems like the 50 yard practice field is fine for the frequency of play on natural grass.

It's impossible to run a college football practice with over 100 guys on a 50 yard field, individual drills would be impossilbe, not to mention the kickers need a place to practice, and being that we have no goal posts on the grass space, that's impossible. If there's one position where practice on grass before a game on grass is an absolute must, it's kicking, and right now they have nowhere to do that.

[g-mann17]

I hadn't thought about this until this discussion, but all 13 football playing members of the MAC now play on some sort of artificial turf. I believe UB (2005), BG (2007), OU (2003) and Ball St (2007) have all switched from grass somewhat recently. Of course, that still leaves the possiblity of non-con games being played on grass.

They played on grass once last year (Penn State) and will play twice this year (Kentucky, Temple). The MAC title game is on artificial turf as well. Seems like the 50 yard practice field is fine for the frequency of play on natural grass.

It's impossible to run a college football practice with over 100 guys on a 50 yard field, individual drills would be impossilbe, not to mention the kickers need a place to practice, and being that we have no goal posts on the grass space, that's impossible. If there's one position where practice on grass before a game on grass is an absolute must, it's kicking, and right now they have nowhere to do that.

I've seen them practice kicking from the grass before. It's not that big of a deal.

As far as "not enough room for a 100 guys", I would beg to differ. I can't even believe you're still on this topic. The practice facilities that we have access to are excellent, and all facilities have more use than just Varsity athletics.

[tpsjugglerdude]

I hadn't thought about this until this discussion, but all 13 football playing members of the MAC now play on some sort of artificial turf. I believe UB (2005), BG (2007), OU (2003) and Ball St (2007) have all switched from grass somewhat recently. Of course, that still leaves the possiblity of non-con games being played on grass.

They played on grass once last year (Penn State) and will play twice this year (Kentucky, Temple). The MAC title game is on artificial turf as well. Seems like the 50 yard practice field is fine for the frequency of play on natural grass.

It's impossible to run a college football practice with over 100 guys on a 50 yard field, individual drills would be impossilbe, not to mention the kickers need a place to practice, and being that we have no goal posts on the grass space, that's impossible. If there's one position where practice on grass before a game on grass is an absolute must, it's kicking, and right now they have nowhere to do that.

How about we worry about our kickers getting good on turf first. Let's not waste our time worrying about kicking on grass until we make our extra pts every time on turf.

[InTheZone]

I hadn't thought about this until this discussion, but all 13 football playing members of the MAC now play on some sort of artificial turf. I believe UB (2005), BG (2007), OU (2003) and Ball St (2007) have all switched from grass somewhat recently. Of course, that still leaves the possiblity of non-con games being played on grass.

They played on grass once last year (Penn State) and will play twice this year (Kentucky, Temple). The MAC title game is on artificial turf as well. Seems like the 50 yard practice field is fine for the frequency of play on natural grass.

It's impossible to run a college football practice with over 100 guys on a 50 yard field, individual drills would be impossilbe, not to mention the kickers need a place to practice, and being that we have no goal posts on the grass space, that's impossible. If there's one position where practice on grass before a game on grass is an absolute must, it's kicking, and right now they have nowhere to do that.

I've seen them practice kicking from the grass before. It's not that big of a deal.

As far as "not enough room for a 100 guys", I would beg to differ. I can't even believe you're still on this topic. The practice facilities that we have access to are excellent, and all facilities have more use than just Varsity athletics.

Are you joking?? You really think a 50 yard field is big enough to run a FULL TEAM practice??? It's a tight squeeze with different position groups running into each other's drills with a 100 yard field!! Most programs and all NFL teams have TWO outdoor fields for this very purpose, and the offense and the defense each take a 100 yard field. You do realize how many position groups there are that need space for individual drills don't you? QB's, RB's, OL, WR's, TE's sometimes split off, DL, LB's, Corners, and Safeties. You've obviously never played college football. A hundred yard field is a tight squeeze. A 50 yard field would be impossible.

All I'm saying is that we built multi-million dollar facilities and didn't include a grass practice field, a standard of all college programs. Hell, Can't State has 3 of them. Find me one other school with facilities like ours that doesn't have a grass practice field. Heck, I bet every other school even in our crap conference has a grass practice field, regardless of what the quality of their facilities. Whether you think it will or not, the fact is is that it will make a difference when we play grass teams.

[InTheZone]

I hadn't thought about this until this discussion, but all 13 football playing members of the MAC now play on some sort of artificial turf. I believe UB (2005), BG (2007), OU (2003) and Ball St (2007) have all switched from grass somewhat recently. Of course, that still leaves the possiblity of non-con games being played on grass.

They played on grass once last year (Penn State) and will play twice this year (Kentucky, Temple). The MAC title game is on artificial turf as well. Seems like the 50 yard practice field is fine for the frequency of play on natural grass.

It's impossible to run a college football practice with over 100 guys on a 50 yard field, individual drills would be impossilbe, not to mention the kickers need a place to practice, and being that we have no goal posts on the grass space, that's impossible. If there's one position where practice on grass before a game on grass is an absolute must, it's kicking, and right now they have nowhere to do that.

How about we worry about our kickers getting good on turf first. Let's not waste our time worrying about kicking on grass until we make our extra pts every time on turf.

I can't disagree with that unfortunately.

[ZachTheZip]

I hadn't thought about this until this discussion, but all 13 football playing members of the MAC now play on some sort of artificial turf. I believe UB (2005), BG (2007), OU (2003) and Ball St (2007) have all switched from grass somewhat recently. Of course, that still leaves the possiblity of non-con games being played on grass.

They played on grass once last year (Penn State) and will play twice this year (Kentucky, Temple). The MAC title game is on artificial turf as well. Seems like the 50 yard practice field is fine for the frequency of play on natural grass.

It's impossible to run a college football practice with over 100 guys on a 50 yard field, individual drills would be impossilbe, not to mention the kickers need a place to practice, and being that we have no goal posts on the grass space, that's impossible. If there's one position where practice on grass before a game on grass is an absolute must, it's kicking, and right now they have nowhere to do that.

I've seen them practice kicking from the grass before. It's not that big of a deal.

As far as "not enough room for a 100 guys", I would beg to differ. I can't even believe you're still on this topic. The practice facilities that we have access to are excellent, and all facilities have more use than just Varsity athletics.

Are you joking?? You really think a 50 yard field is big enough to run a FULL TEAM practice??? It's a tight squeeze with different position groups running into each other's drills with a 100 yard field!! Most programs and all NFL teams have TWO outdoor fields for this very purpose, and the offense and the defense each take a 100 yard field. You do realize how many position groups there are that need space for individual drills don't you? QB's, RB's, OL, WR's, TE's sometimes split off, DL, LB's, Corners, and Safeties. You've obviously never played college football. A hundred yard field is a tight squeeze. A 50 yard field would be impossible.

All I'm saying is that we built multi-million dollar facilities and didn't include a grass practice field, a standard of all college programs. Hell, Can't State has 3 of them. Find me one other school with facilities like ours that doesn't have a grass practice field. Heck, I bet every other school even in our crap conference has a grass practice field, regardless of what the quality of their facilities. Whether you think it will or not, the fact is is that it will make a difference when we play grass teams.

We have three grass football fields. They're located outside the Rubber Bowl. If Coach I thinks it's imperative to have the entire team practice on grass at the same time, there's nothing stopping his staff from taking a couple Roo Express busses and heading out there.

Otherwise, the coach can have part of the team practicing on grass, the other on turf, and they can switch out.

[g-mann17]

I hadn't thought about this until this discussion, but all 13 football playing members of the MAC now play on some sort of artificial turf. I believe UB (2005), BG (2007), OU (2003) and Ball St (2007) have all switched from grass somewhat recently. Of course, that still leaves the possiblity of non-con games being played on grass.

They played on grass once last year (Penn State) and will play twice this year (Kentucky, Temple). The MAC title game is on artificial turf as well. Seems like the 50 yard practice field is fine for the frequency of play on natural grass.

It's impossible to run a college football practice with over 100 guys on a 50 yard field, individual drills would be impossilbe, not to mention the kickers need a place to practice, and being that we have no goal posts on the grass space, that's impossible. If there's one position where practice on grass before a game on grass is an absolute must, it's kicking, and right now they have nowhere to do that.

I've seen them practice kicking from the grass before. It's not that big of a deal.

As far as "not enough room for a 100 guys", I would beg to differ. I can't even believe you're still on this topic. The practice facilities that we have access to are excellent, and all facilities have more use than just Varsity athletics.

Are you joking?? You really think a 50 yard field is big enough to run a FULL TEAM practice??? It's a tight squeeze with different position groups running into each other's drills with a 100 yard field!! Most programs and all NFL teams have TWO outdoor fields for this very purpose, and the offense and the defense each take a 100 yard field. You do realize how many position groups there are that need space for individual drills don't you? QB's, RB's, OL, WR's, TE's sometimes split off, DL, LB's, Corners, and Safeties. You've obviously never played college football. A hundred yard field is a tight squeeze. A 50 yard field would be impossible.

All I'm saying is that we built multi-million dollar facilities and didn't include a grass practice field, a standard of all college programs. Hell, Can't State has 3 of them. Find me one other school with facilities like ours that doesn't have a grass practice field. Heck, I bet every other school even in our crap conference has a grass practice field, regardless of what the quality of their facilities. Whether you think it will or not, the fact is is that it will make a difference when we play grass teams.

Are you kidding me?

We have an indoor facility, an outdoor facility (2 practice fields) an all weather game day surface (3 areas to practice) and a grass practice field (4 areas). I'm pretty sure you're aware that warm up drills can be run anywhere. You need the grass practice field (which we have) to practice kicking and run Team O and Team D for the whopping 2 games a year we play on grass. Not only that but you also have the infield of the track that you can use (5 areas). Unbelievable. You just want things to complain about I think. Trying to build in excuses.

This isn't the old days, there is barely any difference between prograss (artificial surface) and real grass anymore.

And like Zach said, the Rubber Bowl practice facilities also still exist (8 areas to practice, 5 grass 3 artificial).

[InTheZone]

I hadn't thought about this until this discussion, but all 13 football playing members of the MAC now play on some sort of artificial turf. I believe UB (2005), BG (2007), OU (2003) and Ball St (2007) have all switched from grass somewhat recently. Of course, that still leaves the possiblity of non-con games being played on grass.

They played on grass once last year (Penn State) and will play twice this year (Kentucky, Temple). The MAC title game is on artificial turf as well. Seems like the 50 yard practice field is fine for the frequency of play on natural grass.

It's impossible to run a college football practice with over 100 guys on a 50 yard field, individual drills would be impossilbe, not to mention the kickers need a place to practice, and being that we have no goal posts on the grass space, that's impossible. If there's one position where practice on grass before a game on grass is an absolute must, it's kicking, and right now they have nowhere to do that.

I've seen them practice kicking from the grass before. It's not that big of a deal.

As far as "not enough room for a 100 guys", I would beg to differ. I can't even believe you're still on this topic. The practice facilities that we have access to are excellent, and all facilities have more use than just Varsity athletics.

Are you joking?? You really think a 50 yard field is big enough to run a FULL TEAM practice??? It's a tight squeeze with different position groups running into each other's drills with a 100 yard field!! Most programs and all NFL teams have TWO outdoor fields for this very purpose, and the offense and the defense each take a 100 yard field. You do realize how many position groups there are that need space for individual drills don't you? QB's, RB's, OL, WR's, TE's sometimes split off, DL, LB's, Corners, and Safeties. You've obviously never played college football. A hundred yard field is a tight squeeze. A 50 yard field would be impossible.

All I'm saying is that we built multi-million dollar facilities and didn't include a grass practice field, a standard of all college programs. Hell, Can't State has 3 of them. Find me one other school with facilities like ours that doesn't have a grass practice field. Heck, I bet every other school even in our crap conference has a grass practice field, regardless of what the quality of their facilities. Whether you think it will or not, the fact is is that it will make a difference when we play grass teams.

Are you kidding me?

We have an indoor facility, an outdoor facility (2 practice fields) an all weather game day surface (3 areas to practice) and a grass practice field (4 areas). I'm pretty sure you're aware that warm up drills can be run anywhere. You need the grass practice field (which we have) to practice kicking and run Team O and Team D for the whopping 2 games a year we play on grass. Not only that but you also have the infield of the track that you can use (5 areas). Unbelievable. You just want things to complain about I think. Trying to build in excuses.

This isn't the old days, there is barely any difference between prograss (artificial surface) and real grass anymore.

And like Zach said, the Rubber Bowl practice facilities also still exist (8 areas to practice, 5 grass 3 artificial).

Individual drills are not warmups, they're probably the most important part of practice. That was an incredibly ignorant statement.

And practice in the infield of the track complex, Really?? Number one, it isn't lined. Harshmarks are incredibly important to things like alignment and you're basically wasting your time trying to practice without them. Number two, there's a nice long hard surface running down the middle of it for pole vaulting. I'm sure that would make for some interesting injuries. Incredibly ignorant statement number two.

There's a no difference between prograss and grass?? Ignorant statement three. I've played on both partner, I'm not THAT old. And there's a huge difference, grass sets the game at a different speed than turf not to mention its a different running on it and making cuts. It throws off everything from QB-WR timing to running backs footwork to the ability of defensive lineman to make pass rush moves. You wouldn't understand what I'm talking about unless you've played a college football game on both surfaces, but it makes a HUGE difference, and our players should be able to practice on grass before they have to play on it.

The bottom line is all college teams have grass practice facilities. We built a multi-million dollar practice facility, and don't. The fields out at the Rubber Bowl are no longer kept in practice caliber condition (not that they really were to begin with, but that's beside the point...), and the fact that we would even have to think about bussing to the rubber bowl with as much money as we've spent on facilities is ridiculous. It was a stupid decision to change the original plans, and now we're landlocked and have no options correct it. Thus, we have a multi-million dollar practice facility that puts us up shit creek when we're playing a team on grass. Stupendous.

[GP1]

I hadn't thought about this until this discussion, but all 13 football playing members of the MAC now play on some sort of artificial turf. I believe UB (2005), BG (2007), OU (2003) and Ball St (2007) have all switched from grass somewhat recently. Of course, that still leaves the possiblity of non-con games being played on grass.

They played on grass once last year (Penn State) and will play twice this year (Kentucky, Temple). The MAC title game is on artificial turf as well. Seems like the 50 yard practice field is fine for the frequency of play on natural grass.

It's impossible to run a college football practice with over 100 guys on a 50 yard field, individual drills would be impossilbe, not to mention the kickers need a place to practice, and being that we have no goal posts on the grass space, that's impossible. If there's one position where practice on grass before a game on grass is an absolute must, it's kicking, and right now they have nowhere to do that.

I've seen them practice kicking from the grass before. It's not that big of a deal.

As far as "not enough room for a 100 guys", I would beg to differ. I can't even believe you're still on this topic. The practice facilities that we have access to are excellent, and all facilities have more use than just Varsity athletics.

Are you joking?? You really think a 50 yard field is big enough to run a FULL TEAM practice??? It's a tight squeeze with different position groups running into each other's drills with a 100 yard field!! Most programs and all NFL teams have TWO outdoor fields for this very purpose, and the offense and the defense each take a 100 yard field. You do realize how many position groups there are that need space for individual drills don't you? QB's, RB's, OL, WR's, TE's sometimes split off, DL, LB's, Corners, and Safeties. You've obviously never played college football. A hundred yard field is a tight squeeze. A 50 yard field would be impossible.

All I'm saying is that we built multi-million dollar facilities and didn't include a grass practice field, a standard of all college programs. Hell, Can't State has 3 of them. Find me one other school with facilities like ours that doesn't have a grass practice field. Heck, I bet every other school even in our crap conference has a grass practice field, regardless of what the quality of their facilities. Whether you think it will or not, the fact is is that it will make a difference when we play grass teams.

Are you kidding me?

We have an indoor facility, an outdoor facility (2 practice fields) an all weather game day surface (3 areas to practice) and a grass practice field (4 areas). I'm pretty sure you're aware that warm up drills can be run anywhere. You need the grass practice field (which we have) to practice kicking and run Team O and Team D for the whopping 2 games a year we play on grass. Not only that but you also have the infield of the track that you can use (5 areas). Unbelievable. You just want things to complain about I think. Trying to build in excuses.

This isn't the old days, there is barely any difference between prograss (artificial surface) and real grass anymore.

And like Zach said, the Rubber Bowl practice facilities also still exist (8 areas to practice, 5 grass 3 artificial).

Individual drills are not warmups, they're probably the most important part of practice. That was an incredibly ignorant statement.

And practice in the infield of the track complex, Really?? Number one, it isn't lined. Harshmarks are incredibly important to things like alignment and you're basically wasting your time trying to practice without them. Number two, there's a nice long hard surface running down the middle of it for pole vaulting. I'm sure that would make for some interesting injuries. Incredibly ignorant statement number two.

There's a no difference between prograss and grass?? Ignorant statement three. I've played on both partner, I'm not THAT old. And there's a huge difference, grass sets the game at a different speed than turf not to mention its a different running on it and making cuts. It throws off everything from QB-WR timing to running backs footwork to the ability of defensive lineman to make pass rush moves. You wouldn't understand what I'm talking about unless you've played a college football game on both surfaces, but it makes a HUGE difference, and our players should be able to practice on grass before they have to play on it.

The bottom line is all college teams have grass practice facilities. We built a multi-million dollar practice facility, and don't. The fields out at the Rubber Bowl are no longer kept in practice caliber condition (not that they really were to begin with, but that's beside the point...), and the fact that we would even have to think about bussing to the rubber bowl with as much money as we've spent on facilities is ridiculous. It was a stupid decision to change the original plans, and now we're landlocked and have no options correct it. Thus, we have a multi-million dollar practice facility that puts us up shit creek when we're playing a team on grass. Stupendous.

Once during the Faust years, when spring practice lasted a lot longer than it does now (these kids today are pampered), we had a snow storm during spring practice so we couldn't practice at the RB. We had full contact-full pad practice on the basketball court in the JAR. Practiced a lot of running plays that day.

[InTheZone]

At least you were inside. There could've been tornadoes whirling around the Rubber Bowl and ole Lee O wouldn't have called practice. I can remember lightening striking all around us multiple times and Owens acting like he didn't even notice. Winter conditioning on the hardwood of Memorial and the JAR were a real treat too. My joints still ache from thousands of updowns on that damn floor.