Eastern Washington was the beneficiary of an NCAA ruling that will allow teams to wear uniforms that match the color of fields. (Photo: EWU Athletics)An NCAA ruling that was seen as a win for Boise State, actually has larger ramifications, including ones for Eastern Washington.
A proposal by the Football Rules Committee that would require a team's primary uniform color from being different from than the field was denied by the NCAA's playing rules oversight panel on Thursday.
If the proposal had been accepted, Boise State would not have been able to wear its blue uniforms at home, where it plays on blue turf.
The same would have gone for Eastern Washington, who wears red uniforms at home on its red turf. The rule would have taken things a step further, as well.
"Not only was it red on red on red, but blue on blue on blue and green on green on green," Eastern Washington athletic director Bill Chaves said. "Once those schools with green were affected, there was probably pushback. The Marshalls, Oregons, Portland States got lumped into this."
"You can't just exclude," Chaves added."If you're going to get into colors on turf, you have to look into all colors."
The issue behind the proposal was camouflaging, Chaves said. But if the ruling had passed, Chaves said that Eastern Washington would have had no problem not wearing red uniforms at home.
