College football is home to some colorful turf fields, but SUNY Morrisville has taken things to a dark, new level.
The Division III school showed off its newly installed black turf field on Tuesday, and it needs to be seen to be believed.
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SUNY Morrisville, which is located about 30 miles southeast of Syracuse, N.Y., aimed for a daring look as it changed the turf at Drake Field for the first time since 2006.
“As we set out to replace our old turf, we wanted to move in a bold, new direction that would give our department and student-athletes a unique identity to rally around,” SUNY Morrisville Director of Athletics Matt Grawrock said in a statement.
Discussions of replacing the old, green turf began in 2022, according to the university. The installation of the black turf started in May and wrapped up earlier in July.
The field features different color markings for different sports: white for football, red for men’s lacrosse, powder blue for women’s lacrosse, lime green for soccer and yellow for field hockey.
NCAAF
SUNY Morrisville is not the first program to embrace an unconventional color for their turf. Boise State famously has a blue field, as do the University of New Haven (Division II) and Luther College (Division III). Eastern Washington has a red surface, Coastal Carolina has a teal surface, Eastern Michigan has a gray surface and Central Arkansas has a purple and gray surface.
When it came to deciding on black turf, Grawrock was happy to give the Mustangs something one of a kind.
“Many people may ask why we've put a black field out there,” Grawrock said. “We've asked, why not?”