The 1993 Season

Following the intersquad game in May 1993, all sod was cut from the field with a sod cutter and removed. The soil was deeply tilled with a chisel plow to open the compacted soil, then disked, harrowed, and graded to break up severely compacted clods. Sod that had been ordered early in the year was scheduled to arrive in early June; however, due to a severe drought lasting through the spring, the sod was not suitable for harvesting. Finally, after several false starts, replacement sod was obtained from another producer. Crews were ready to do the installation when the sod arrived 1 July. By the time the first load arrived, it was 8:30 a.m. and the temperature within the stadium had already exceeded 75°F; by midday, it was 106°F. It took a day and a half to complete the job. Large, tractor-mounted rolls of washed sod measuring 4 feet across and 30 feet long were unrolled and placed onto the carefully prepared planting bed. By midafternoon of the second day, all of the sod was in place and the entire field hand watered. Initially the results of the sodding operation appeared favorable. Rooting was proceeding as expected and the new turf was holding up well, despite the above-average temperatures and droughty conditions persisting through midsummer. On Friday, 13 August, just 8 days before the first scheduled game, however, it was obvious to nearly everyone that there was a problem. Even under light traffic, sections of sod were easily dislodged. What roots had developed earlier in the summer were now gone; the culprit was later identified by Penn State's Disease Diagnostic Lab as Magnoporthe poae, the causal organism of summer patch disease. Bob was frantic. All of the experts consulted on possible courses of action said essentially the same thing: control desiccation while keeping the turf as dry as possible, be patient and wait for cool nighttime temperatures to stimulate new root growth, and, especially, avoid playing on the field during rainy or very wet conditions. The weather stayed dry up to and during the first two games. While numerous pieces of sod were dislodged from the soil by play, the extent of the damage was not severe and grounds-crew members repaired what they could during breaks in the games. The Rutgers game was third on the schedule. It began raining on the Thursday afternoon before game day. Tarps were placed on the field to direct all rainfall to the sidelines. The rain persisted all day Friday and into Saturday morning. Finally, just before the initiation of activities on the field at noon on Saturday, the tarps were removed. During the game, it rained constantly; sod was being pulled up by play at an accelerating rate as the game proceeded. By the end of the game, hardly a piece of sod remained where it had been before. Television and radio commentators wondered aloud why this was happening at an institution with a "world-class turfgrass program." But Bob Hudzik's communications were not limited to media people. The athletic director, the football coach, and the players all wanted to know how this could have happened and, more importantly, what he was going to do about it before the next home game.