A reader echoes my sentiments on the playing surface at the game:
“It did not rain in the 24 hours before the game. I have heard of (mechanical) fans and other extraordinary efforts to prepare fields where they have really serious weather problems, such as Green Bay, where they have natural grass.
“Why don’t they pay more attention to this? This year we had players not going to bowl games, because of the risk of injury, and the potential financial impact to them. Don’t bowl people realize that failure to take even the most simple of measures plays into that fear? Slippery field exponentially increases the risk of injury. And Monday’s situation was preventable. And even if there were no injuries, the play of the game was affected.”
I don’t blame, high profile players for sitting out meaningless, Bowl games, but I’m sure they would all play in the Rose Bowl, and the playoffs.
But thanks to Tom Hansen the Rose Bowl is no longer meaningful unless it is part of the national playoff.
Don’t they rotate?
Yes, but Tom Hansen negotiated away the Granddaddy of Them All down to the nobodies from the likes of the Fiesta and Peach Bowls. The Rose Bowl should always be one of the championship games. We had a position of strength and tradition unlike any other bowl and gave it away. Those SEC sharpies rolled him.
The Rose Bowl field was a disgrace.
Looked fantastic, almost like a video game. Played like a Viet Nam rice paddy in a monsoon even though it barely rained before the game and was tarped.
Players on skates. Groundskeeper responsibility obviously left up to a bunch of morons. What did they do? Install the turf on Dec 31?
Very disappointing that so many players were forced to roller skate around. Glaring Rose Bowl Ineptitude. Remember the ucla game where it had to be delayed because no cones had been set out?
That was the worst field I can remember seeing especially considering there are absolutely no excuses when it comes to weather or the climate.
It was what I would call perfect football weather.
Yet you would have thought drastic measures needed to be taken to save the field from some sort of flood.
Dummies involved obviously, or simply a cost-cutting result which is always possible.
For once I have to agree with the Blogger. Field maintenance is not rocket science (Pasadena/JPL pun intended). I’m not sure slippery fields increase the risk of injury as many, many games are played under adverse weather conditions. But a game of the magnitude of the Rose Bowl should not have anything less than perfect field conditions.
Finally a legitimate complaint by the blogger
Google “Two minute warning -USC Vs Penn State Rose Bowl 2017”
You’ll get a classic video of Bruin fan watching the last few minutes of Rose Bowl. Tells you everything you need to know about Bruin fans.
#envy #couldbebucket
There’s a couple of them (videos) and what is so telling is there knowing how pathetic ucla football is i.e. one of these guys boasts about rooting for notre dame – which, of course, they do every year.
Dude seemed pretty boring to me. Way too long – just a bruin loser praying that the team that owns L.A. doesn’t once again prove that ucla is an annual disappointment. Pretty routine.
post a link of it please
I agree there were huge chunks of sod pulling up in shoes. There was tenuous footing. And there were injuries because of the field. Even though Sam (great attitude) Darnold pointed out the field was bad for both teams, I know one team changed footwear in the first quarter.
It will take on career ending injury to cause a player to sue for preventable maintenance and things will change.
Out of curiosity does UCLA have the duty of field maintenance at the Rose Bowl?
ucla’s always on the cheap, so it wouldn’t surprise me if ucla’s involved. We’ll never know and since the bruins aren’t allowed in the RB in Jan, there’s a good argument that their help had nothing to do with the field.
But one of the bruin games this season even had to be delayed this season because nobody had set the necessary field cones out. Kind of like their football program – low rent.
This is my opinion, the bowl committee, the managers for the bowl, groundskeepers, and who ever is associated with the bowl anyshape or form, do not care about the moisture if the field. They want it to look pretty, but the condition they don’t care. It is a cost of money and hoping and praying that the condition that the management and everyone go by.
The RB management staff and RB committee probably based their decision on the weather conditions not to do the necessary maintenance. Rain was forecasted at some point, yet, some preventative grounds keeping should have been done.
Thank god, no one was seriously injured..
True, was Adoree’s a high ankle sprain or normal sprain ? Thanks God no ACL on that one. Don’t take any athleticism from Adoree before he gets to the NFL, I want to see how he stacks up against the pros with this level of freak
The truth is there are less injuries on a slick, wet, or sloppy field as we know footing (traction)is what causes joints to turn in bad directions.
Did the late Dr. Don Drysdale tell you that one?
The field was tarped as of the 31st. I’m up north, so I don’t know what the weather was after that leading up to the game.
I think we can all agree UCLA’s offense didn’t put a lot of wear and tear on the field.
And according to Mora, no spread teams have ever won a title. What an idea! Read SB Nation. The Big Lead even called the Chimp “Hilariously Wrong.”
Your coach is stupid. We all agree on that.
He was asked last year if UCLA was going to a pro-style offense, when Pola was named OC. His answer? What is a pro-style offense?
He said the same thing yesterday.
And quite the ladies man…
Punting is winning and keeps the grass fresh.
Moisture had nothing to do with the slipping on the Rose Bowl Turf. The slippage was due in part to a new surface being installed and heavily rolled and compacted too much. If you notice, the divots that were coming out of the turf were relatively small. This means that there was not a lot of give in the turf from the compaction. I saw the same thing when Oregon played Auburn for the NC in Phoenix. There was new turf installed and rolled and compacted too much, and you saw a lot of slippage.
Do you have some kind of expertise in the area?
He loves grass
My uncle is a golf course superintendent with a M.S. in Turf Management. What should’ve been done is after the last UCLA game the field should’ve been verticut, that is a dethatching process where old and dead bermuda grass is removed. After that vacuum it all up, mow it as short as you can, overseed with a mix of Bluegrass and Ryegrass, lightly give it a top coat of steer manuer, water/rain, and in a month you would have a lush field for the Rose Bowl.
Figured as much. You seemed to know what you’re talking about
Damn! You’re hired!