SEC ready to experiment with instant replay


The SEC is joining the ranks of college football conferences that have adopted instant replay and will begin using it this coming season.
Coaches wouldn't be able to throw a flag to demand a replay, like in the NFL. Instead, a replay official will be in the booth at all SEC games using a nine-panel replay screen between plays to analyze whether the game needs to be stopped and a play changed.
Conferences decided to give replay a try after the Big Ten used it in 28 of 57 games last season and had relatively good success. Of 43 calls that were questioned, 21 were overturned. Games were only about three minutes longer in which replay was used, so concerns about it making games too long were eased and leagues got more excited about giving the strategy a try themselves.
"I think it's a wonderful idea and I like how they do it with a technician up top and a head referee making the call," said South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, notorious for his protests of calls when he was coach at Florida. "It keeps it out of the coaches hands and lets those guys handle it."
Bobby Gaston, the SEC's coordinator of football officials, says TV partners with the SEC are being encouraged to go to a commercial break while they are reviewing plays rather than wind and rewind plays for viewing audiences.
Other coaches with NFL experience, like Mike Shula of Alabama and Mississippi State's Sylvester Croom, agree with Spurrier, a former NFL coach. They prefer that officials decide which plays to look at, rather than put the pressure on coaches and charge timeouts when they're wrong - like the NFL does.
"I think for college football, it is probably as good as you could come up with," Croom said. "It still gives the officials another tool to make good decisions with and it doesn't put a lot of pressure on our coaches. And it's probably the most economical way as well."
The league will pay about $20,000 per school on equipment upgrades that will be completed this summer. The SEC will hire TV crews for games not televised, so all games can have the same advantages. But Croom is skeptical that college games will have the proper coverage to ensure replay is always right.
It's "critical that you have to have sufficient enough TV angles in every stadium to do that," Croom said. "And there's no way to get that done in college football. It's going to be different in every conference, every stadium. There's no way the technology is going to be equitable in every stadium."
There are roughly 14 seconds between the end of each play until the football is placed and the 25-second game clock begins. Florida coach Urban Meyer, whose team runs a no-huddle attack, sees how instant replay could affect his team more than some others.
He doesn't want to slow down the momentum his team has by allowing the defense more time to prepare for a new play. But there may be times when he'll have to slow his offense down - or even call time out - to make sure replay officials get a call right.
"I think you've got to really be aware that there's strategy involved, which I think is being overlooked," Meyer said. "If you burn a timeout, then they can catch that mistake a lot easier. ... That's the thing that's of concern to me.''
Of course, in the eyes of the schools, at least having the chance to correct some mistakes is a good thing.
"I'm a proponent of instant replay," Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley said. "If they get the call right, I think that's good.''
I understand it may slow the game down a little bit, but there's so much at stake and there's no playoff in (college) football. If they can correct a mistake to help a team get the right call then I think any system would be good there."
Instant replay in the SEC
How instant replay will work in the SEC:
The SEC is spending $20,000 per school to upgrade replay equipment in the press boxes.
A nine-panel replay screen similar to the NFL will be used. The league will pay for TV cameras at games not already televised.
An extra official in the press box will decide if a play needs to be reviewed by buzzing the officials on the field.
Coaches cannot request a replay.
Reviewable plays: Touchdowns, out of bounds, receptions, fumbles.
Leagues using replay: Pac-10, Big East, Mountain West, ACC, Big Ten and SEC.

David Jones
Gannett News Service