Sounds like Zoysia. It's suited to much warmer climates, but can
easily grow in the northeast and survive hard winters. It goes a light
brown, more like straw color in Oct in NJ and remains that way till
May. One of my neighbors has it and it looks like hell. It's also
very invasive and spreads through runners. I've seen it break up
asphalt driveways by invading the cracks. In warm weather, it grows
very dense and crowds out weeds.