Instant Replay Approved for College Football

[Water Pony]

Teams Will Be Allowed One Challenge Per Game

INDIANAPOLIS (May 30) - Instant replay will become a part of Division I-A football games after all.

More than two months after tabling the issue, the NCAA's Playing Rules Oversight Panel (PROP) on Tuesday approved a proposed video-replay system for games starting this fall.

On February 9, the NCAA on Thursday approved a standardized video-review system across all Division I-A conferences that would have a video official review all plays and allow each team one challenge per game.

However, the PROP decided on March 13 that it needed more feedback, particularly on coaches' challenges. The delay allowed the Football Rules Committee to receive input from the American Football Coaches Association and the Division I-A Collegiate Commissioners Association, which met in late April.

On Tuesday, the panel approved a revised proposal by the Football Rules Committee that calls for one challenge per team per game, provided the squad requesting the challenge has a timeout available.

If the challenge is successful, the team will keep its timeout, but that will be the only challenge allowed in the game for the squad. If the challenge fails, a timeout will be charged.

"This revised proposal achieves the intended result of the rules committee to incorporate a challenge into the video-replay system," panel chair and Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference commissioner John Cochrane said.

Two seasons ago, the Big Ten Conference experimented with instant replay, allowing a video official to stop the game to inspect reviewable plays that had a direct, competitive impact on the game.

In 2005, the majority of conferences implemented the Big Ten's system, though the Mountain West Conference allowed one challenge per team. A total of 35 plays were challenged all season, with the call on the field reversed five times.

Also on Tuesday, the PROP recommended that halftime of college football games last 20 minutes, but the competing schools can shorten or lengthen the break by mutual consent.


Copyright © 2006 SportsTicker. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. 2006-05-30 17:11:16

[mr. pony]

Sure as hell could have used it at Marshall last year.

[LonghornFan68]

I'm sure one isn't enough. I think one per half is more appropriate. But hey, they are trying to make the games shorter.

[mrydel]

We had it last year. The problem was that it was not a reviewable play.

[EastStang]

I was going to say that. A call of incomplete pass is not reviewable. Had they ruled it a fumble, then a replay would have been ordered and the true result would have been confirmed on replay. Later in the season, I noticed that referees were more savvy to which calls were reviewable and made calls accordingly.

[mrydel]

That is the whole deal. It is not the matter of the review as much as the matter of making a call that is reviewable. As you said, I saw officials call fumbles on plays that to me clearly were not fumbles, but they did so in order that they could review it to make sure. When a player hits the ground and the ball pops out, if there is any doubt whatsoever as to whether or not it was a fumble, call it a fumble. If you call it down, there is no review. ( That said, I thought I read somewhere that they were changing the rule to allow a review of a possible fumble even in the case of blowing the whistle when the player went down. Most of those plays happen so quickly that the whistle does not have an effect on the play.)

[smudad]

If the NFL model is any indicator, officiating will only get worse when they are able to fall back on replay to correct their blown calls. (But, then they can always get their sideline warning right and feel good on the way home.) People/officials are going to screw up. I hate losing because of blown calls. But, I'm not sure replay will ever make the officiating better. And, with commercial breaks, we'll begin to have four hour games.

Baseball seems to have the best oficiating. And then that seems to be because they are full time umpires. And, then there is basketball where full time officials are allowed to interpret the game - kinda like Martha Graham. Leave it alone. It's as good as it's going to get.

[The PonyGrad]

We had it last year. The problem was that it was not a reviewable play.

Oh, was that the deal. So I guess we wasted that time-out. As I recall the announcers were clueless at the time.

[Mustangs35SMU]

We had it last year. The problem was that it was not a reviewable play.

Oh, was that the deal. So I guess we wasted that time-out. As I recall the announcers were clueless at the time.

Yep. They had the Marshall announcers on CSTV and thats what they just continued to say time and time again.