CUSA Considering Instant Replay

[Cheesesteak]

Thursday, May 19, 2005 ESPN
C-USA considering replay for '05 season
Associated Press

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Conference USA athletic directors have recommended the experimental use of limited instant replay for the 2005 football season.

The conference's Board of Directors will consider the plan at its June 6-7 meeting in Dallas, Commissioner Britton Banowsky said Thursday.

The conference would follow a model that the NFL uses in the final two minutes of play for each half. A technical adviser in the press box will decide if a review is needed, but the referee will still make the final call on the field. Coaches will be unable to make a challenge, a difference from the NFL's policy.

Other conferences that are experimenting with instant replay rely on the technical adviser to both call for the review and make the final decision. The recommendation was made during the conference's spring meetings this week in Destin, Fla.

The Atlantic Coast, Big East, Mountain West, Southeastern and Pacific-10 conferences have approved instant replays starting in the 2005 season.

Conference USA football coaches and athletic directors also approved a tiebreaker formula for the inaugural conference championship game on Dec. 3.

Home field will be awarded to the team with the highest regular-season winning percentage against conference opponents. The first tiebreaker is the winner of a head-to-head matchup. If the two teams did not play during the regular season, the team with the highest BCS ranking would receive the nod.

Marshall debuts in Conference USA this fall, along with Rice, SMU, Tulsa, Texas-El Paso and fellow Mid-American Conference member Central Florida. They'll join existing Conference USA schools East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, Southern Miss, Tulane and UAB.