One of the benefits of playing in the old Pac-12 was that USC, UCLA and Stanford played on grass fields.
Few things in football have a more romantic bent than a linebacker with grass stains on his shoulder pads or a quarterback in a muddy jersey.
There are so few natural grass surfaces now in Power 4 football that Arizona, ASU, Houston, TCU and Texas Tech will all play most regular season games on artificial turf this season.
Is that good?
Some NFL and college teams have said that there are fewer injuries on natural grass.
Arizona used natural grass from 1899 to 2012. It installed artificial turf in 2013 when coach Rich Rodriguez said it better suited his play-fast offense than grass did. New turf was installed in 2022 for a cost of $1.3 million
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Arizona defensive back Dalton Johnson (43) gets loosened up a bit as the Wildcats workout before kickoff against Baylor for a Big 12 game, Nov. 22, 2025, in Tucson.
Sometimes change isn't better.
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