Which college football teams have real grass fields in 2023?

Given that artificial turf has been the go-to for many schools over the years, football teams with real grass fields don't sound too important now. However, there are still some schools that prefer real grass because there are a lot of inherent benefits to using such.

This article will explore which CFB teams still use real grass in their stadiums. It'll also try and understand why they don't use artificial turf yet, even several decades on.

Which college football teams have real grass fields in 2023?

Here are some of the schools that have the real grass fields to date:

• Iowa State - The Cyclone's Jack Trice Stadium proudly uses real grass as of 2022. Iowa State players get to play on real grass, brought to the stadium via turf rolls (via Inside Iowa State), with the green all grown from seeds. This was confirmed last year by Adam Thoms, who is an associate professor of horticulture at the university.
• BYU - Brigham Young University has been using real grass for the past few years and recently confirmed using it this year as well (via Sports Illustrated) at the LaVell Edwards Stadium. BYU will use real grass alongside a new field design as the school enters the Big 12 conference.
• Alabama - Bryant-Denny Stadium's surface isn't all real grass, but most of it is. The main playing surface is Northbridge Bermudagrass, while artificial turf makes up the sidelines (via AL.com). Crimson Tide players loved the real grass field as well, giving their new playing surface glowing reviews.
• Georgia - The Bulldogs' Sanford Stadium claims to still use a natural grass surface as of the current season. The surface, according to them, is planted with Tifway 419 Bermuda Grass. It appears the playing field has been using this kind of grass since 2019, as per UGA Research.
• Tennessee - Neyland Stadium has undergone numerous renovations, including replacing its original real grass playing surface with artificial turf. There's debate on whether the surface is real grass. However, last year, a bunch of online sellers started peddling what they claimed to be grass from Neyland, ripped up after the Vols beat the Crimson Tide 52-49 (via WVLT Knoxville). Based on this, one could infer that Tennessee still uses real grass.

Along with these schools, there are likely many other schools that still use real grass but are either unmentioned or unconfirmed.