What If The Group Of Five Went Full Boise On Their Fields? - #AmericanRising

Ah, the American. The conference that once was a big boy but is now lumped in with the other non-power conferences. The schools of this league are needing to find some identity after the great realignment and maybe having distinctive fields would do the trick?

Remember, the guidelines are to use alternate, secondary and old logos. No green fields and no conference logos. The American logos actually looked fine for the most part, but if it didn't work for one conference, it wasn't going to work for all. Plus half the teams wish they'd get a Big 12 logo on their field instead.

Let's go and rise with the American!

Cincinnati

What would make this better is if the eyes were animated and thus could blink and move around the field. If we can make a Tupac hologram, we can make a field with moving logos.

East Carolina

I need to stop making ECU fans mad. The midfield logo is a throwback to the 90's and not at all a copy of NC State's logo. ECU's current logo apparently died to look cool, but it didn't deserve to be on a purple field. And as the only Group of Five school with purple as their main color, a purple field was a must.

Houston

Houston is trying to be to their city like Miami (FL) was to theirs in the 80's. Having a red field with script Cougars in the end-zone on a blue surface would really ensnare those local product to make is Houston versus The World. It's all about the H! It's all about the H!

Memphis

Making a field design as cool as their basketball court design wasn't happening, so the midfield logo here has been stripped of color and just has the outline. The end-zone logo is traditional and boring because Tigers' fans are just waiting for hoops season anyway.

Navy

New AAC member Navy gave up over 100 years of independence to join a league. So might as well give the field a makeover. The mid-field anchor has been on the helmet before and the dark blue field is like the ocean. The block NAVY letters are surrounded by the crest of the US Naval Academy. This field just oozes traditions both old and new.

SMU

Unlike other striped fields, SMU gets true alternating stripes. And with the true alternating stripes comes alternating end-zone logos. No midfield logo here as the field itself baking in the hot Texas sun is SMU enough. The white end-zones are a subtle reference to the SMU teams of the 80's loving the white stuff.

South Florida

The good news is that the Tampa Bay Bucs have gold as one of their colors so a gold field might suit Raymond James Stadium for both tenants.  The midfield Bull looks ready to charge toward the one end-zone. Can that be the one with the pirate ship?

Temple

Another American team playing in an NFL stadium. I'm sure the Philadelphia Eagles fans wouldn't mind this. Any kind of playing surface would be better than the one currently at the Linc. The midfield Owl looks like he's yelling at you to leave the toilet seat down.

Tulane

Again, no green fields, even for green-colored teams. The sky blue is in contrast to the light gray here. The midfield logo looks like if you color is burnt orange, it would be better suited for Texas.

Tulsa

Tulsa gets the honor of having a helmet-logo at midfield. If I had the time and patience, I would have made the helmet the old-school two-bar. The golden field is contrasted to the hurricane warning flag end-zones.

UCF

The midfield knight looks like he's about to joust for the hand of the fair maiden of Saxony. I wonder if med-evil jousting tournaments had different-colored fields? I'm sure the black stripes will be just fine in the south (central) Florida sun.

UConn

There might as well be ghost lettering on this field saying "SAVE US ACC!" and a countdown clock to basketball season on the 25's. The midfield logo should help people learn how to spell Connecticut as most people stop after the first four letters.

Tomorrow, the series wraps up with a trip to the left coach and the Mountain West and yes, Boise State.