Eastern Michigan University is taking a page out of Boise State's playbook and will play its home football games on a field featuring a unique color scheme.
A state-of-the-art gray-colored FieldTurf playing surface will be ready for the Eagle's season-opening home game against Morgan State.
EMU Athletic Director Heather Lyke says the new turf is being paid for with money Eastern gets from host schools.
"When they pay compensation to us for coming to their field,"Lyke says, "we have a fund called the Football Game Guarantee Fund, and that's where the funding is coming from."
Along with the gray turf, the field will feature green end zones and the Block E logo at the 50 yard line.
The field has been nicknamed "The Factory" to reflect the hard-working attitude of the Eagles football squad.
Several schools play on turf of non-traditional colors, but EMU will become only the second school in the Football Bowl Subdivision to play on something other than green turf.
Rynearson Stadium has had artificial turf since 1991. The most recent surface was installed in 2005.
Find out more about the new playing surface and pictures and video from Thursday afternoon's news conference, online: