Replay Immediate Hit Among SEC Coaches

[Greenhead22]

July 31, 2005

Replay immediate hit among SEC coaches

By Ian R. Rapoport
irapopor@clarionledger.com

Instant Facts About Instant Replay

# The Big Ten was the only conference to use it last season.

# Nine of the 11 major conferences in NCAA Division 1-A will use a replay system this season.

# The conferences that agreed to use instant replay are: ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big XII, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Pac-10, and SEC.

# The Western Athletic and Sun Belt conferences aren't using replay.

# Eight conferences are using the Big Ten , which makes every play reviewable. Coaches cannot challenge.

# Only the Mountain West is allowing coaches to challenge.

# Costs vary. The SEC will spend $20,000 per school on equipment upgrades, though the exact amount depends on the games televised. The ACC will reportedly spend a total of $440,000 for its 12 teams.

# In the SEC, instant replay will be used in all games, even those against nonconference opponents.

HOOVER, Ala. — At the moment a play ends, officials in charge of instant replay begin their race against the clock.

Three judges at each game this fall will sit in a booth high up in stadiums across the Southeastern Conference and watch replay after replay to determine if there is enough evidence to stop the clock and review the play. They will have 12-14 seconds of time, then a team is free to take the next snap. Once the next play begins, replay options are over.

It figures to be frantic and jarring for officials who will use instant replay for the first time this season. Learning to have clear judgment during the race against time is just one of many aspects of the new system that will require an adjustment.

"Really, officials will have about 20 seconds between plays to make a decision," said Brian Lowe, president of DVSport, the company that designed the technology for instant replay in the SEC.

During SEC Media Days last week, Lowe manned a presentation booth that strated how the new system will work. He described a scurrying process that will take every decision down to the last nano-second before refs on the field receive a buzz in their beepers to let them know a play is going to be reviewed.

"It could be a third-down play, deciding possession, they are looking at one more angle, one more angle, the field goal team is running on the field, he's about to kick it, and they see a receiver's foot is on the line," said Lowe, talking as fast as he can. "We buzz right away."

Last season, the Big Ten became the first conference in college football to utilize instant replay. For 2005, the SEC joins seven other major conferences in using what has become a staple in the National Football League. The hope is that it will be unobtrusive to the flow of the game, while fulfilling the goal of simply getting it right.

All 12 SEC coaches voted for it, and most are thrilled about it.

"It's a smart move," said new South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said. "Hopefully, the head (replay official) can make a quick call, look at it, and make a decision (that) won't hold the game up. Football is so important — players train year-round, coaches watch tape all summer, and with the fans — you to lose a game because a referee missed a call."

The NFL has used instant replay for years, but the college football is different in one key area — coaches won't have a "challenge." They won't throw a red flag onto the field, then risk losing a timeout if the play isn't overturned. Whether a play is reviewed will be determined solely in the booth.

SEC associate commissioner Brad Davis gave a stration during last week's Media Days on how instant replay equipment will be used. The SEC paid $240,000 to provide each school the cameras and video equipment needed. Three officials will make the calls from a booth.

Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom, who decided which calls should be challenged during his stint as a Green Bay Packers assistant coach, pointed out that it would cost each school too much money to buy the technology and hire personnel to decide if a play should be reviewed. He likes that the referees will do it.

Other coaches are just happy not to deal with the pressure of challenging.

"Using the mechanism (of a coach's challenge) can sometimes distract from and extend the game," LSU coach Les Miles said. "I think what we have done in the SEC is do anything that will improve the game. If the adjustment can mean the difference between winning and losing a game, I think it's the right thing."

In the Big Ten last season, replay was used in 55 games. The conference had 43 reviews and 21 overturns.

"That's a high percentage of overturns, and we will hopefully do better than that," said Bobby Gaston, SEC coordinator of officials, who estimates replay will add 90 seconds of real time to each game, a fraction of time for games that now last 3-31/2 hours. "The greatest thing that could happen is that we spend all of this money for nothing, because every call we make is proper. But I'm not naive enough to think that will be the case."

Alabama coach Mike Shula said he talked with several Big Ten officials and coaches, who all claimed they were "very, very, very pleased."

While SEC coaches and officials gloat about replay, it's business as usual for the players, many of whom just want to know the rules so they can play within them.

"It's not a big deal to us," Arkansas safety Vickiel Vaughn said. "There are some things that happen in a game where you'd go, 'we'd like instant replay for that.' But we just take it in stride. Provide us with the rules and we'll go along with it."

One goal is to avoid high-profile gaffs by the referees. But the replay system would not have fixed two of last season's more publicized mistakes in the SEC. It can't overturn pass interference calls like the one in the endzone that cost Alabama a win over LSU last season. It can't overturn a clock-management mistake, like the one that helped Tennessee defeat Florida.

According to Gaston, the NCAA deemed it too much to ask for officials to watch the clock every play. As for pass interference, he said, "(We have) tried to keep the replay people out of actually officiating the game. We're not going to review any fouls."

Gaston gave a few examples of what will be reviewed: judging whether a receiver made a catch, whether a runner broke the plane of the goal line (or first-down marker), and whether a receiver was out of bounds.

Another key play on which to rule is if a player fumbled. He said the officials will be more likely to rule a questionable call a fumble, because they can review it. If an official blows a play , it can't be reviewed.

"The referees will be slightly hesitant," Gaston said. "But we don't want them to stop officiating."

Reviewing will occur on every single play.

In the replay booth will a replay official, a communicator, and a technician.

The communicator uses a touch-screen monitor with nine pictures on the screen, each showing a different view of the game. The replay official and the technician will each have 20-inch flat screen monitors featuring the live game feed and any replays the communicator calls for. Each can also see the game on the field.

One example Gaston gave is on a scoring kickoff return. If the communicator thinks a runner might have stepped out of bounds, he immediately touches his screen, giving both other officials a view of the play. Because there is a two-second delay on the monitors, the officials receive a replay in slow motion from various angles while viewers at home are watching it "live."

With a remote, the people in the booth toggle through different replays, different angles, trying to decide if there is enough evidence to call for a review. As the teams huddle up and begin the next play, the officials are reviewing as fast as they can. If they decide a review is necessary, they buzz the beepers worn by referees on the field and play is stopped.

"If they come up with indisputable video evidence to make the over-turn," Gaston said, "they can do so."

In the NFL, referees in the booth review every play in a similar fashion during the last two minutes of each half.

"It's just like that," said Lowe, president of DVSport, "except it's the whole game for us. For the first few weeks, we'll be more likely to go ahead and buzz to err on the side of caution. So you're going to hear a lot: 'the ruling on the field stands.' "

[GordonGekko]

"That's a high percentage of overturns, and we will hopefully do better than that," said Bobby Gaston

Yeah Right........