The Venue

Perhaps the most unique aspect of Thursday's game is the venue...the Kibbie Dome, in Moscow, Idaho.  I feel pretty safe in saying that there is not another stadium like it anywhere in college football.  Here, based on research on the Internet, primarily on wikipedia (back off, this isn't a term paper), is the Kibbie Dome story.

In fact, I think that between the Kibbie Dome and the blue turf, Idaho has cornered the market on unique football venues.

Here's a picture of the Kibbie Dome today.

OK.  Not really.  But, if I was an Idaho fan, this is the kind of thing I would do.

Here is what it really looks like today.

It looks small because this picture was taken from an airplane.  Coach Clawson said it looks like a Campbell's soup can cut in half.  And it does.

Anyway, what is fascinating is that for the first four years, it was an outdoor stadium.  Mr. Kibbie was a construction executive who attended the U of I for one month before leaving due to hardship.  So, they took the outdoor stadium, and built a dome over it...

Doyt Dome, anyone?  The original roof was engineered wood products and the whole thing won an architectural award.

From wikipedia.

The Kibbie Dome's roof spans 400 feet (122 m) from sideline-to-sideline, and its maximum height is 150 feet (45 m) above the hashmarks. (Holt Arena, on the campus of Idaho State University in Pocatello, has an opposite geometry

It does make for an usual situation.  Check this out.  As you can see, the endline is not very far from what I would hope is a padded wall.  And look at the goalposts.  There is no central standard....the goal post extends out from the wall.  I just have to believe that for a road team throwing a vertical route into the back of the end zone, there has to be an adjustment to make.  You just aren't used to a wall looming there...even if it is padded.

It is the smallest venue in FBS.  They also play basketball in here as well.

A few other images....