AFM Home | The Staff Report | Sept 2004

By Steve Silverman

Big Ten football coaches will have even one more thing to cause sleepless nights this season.

Instant replay has reared its head as a key player when the game is on the line.

The conference is hoping that its instant replay method – significantly different than the one used by the NFL – will help officials get more calls right and therefore bring more justice to the league.

“We want to get the calls right,” said Dave Parry, the Big Ten’s coordinator of football officials. “If we can correct those obvious, egregious plays and stay off the news at 10 o’clock at night, that’s what we want to do.”

Big Ten coaches will not be asked or allowed to challenge calls that they think are wrong. Instead a replay official in a press box-level booth will stop play if he thinks an incorrect call has been made. To do so, he alerts the game officials that the play is under review and then confirms or overturns the call with the aid of a TiVo-type video recorder. The standard that the replay official is required to use in order to reverse a call is “indisputable video evidence.”

If the program is successful this season, it is widely expected that many of the other major conferences could adopt similar programs in the foreseeable future.

The Big Ten has seen a number of controversial calls in recent years – who can forget the sight of Penn State head coach Joe Paterno running down the field after the officials at the conclusion of a game – and wanted to upgrade its officiating. The league ran a shadow system last year as a precursor to introducing it this year. In 68 televised games during the 2003 season, replay was used on 42 plays and 23 of those resulted in reversals.

Parry said the presence of replay should not extend Big Ten games by more than a few minutes. While NFL games are limited to a maximum of four challenges per game (two from each coach) there could potentially be an unlimited number of replays in any game. “Yes that is a possibility,” Parry said. “But it is very unlikely. From the data we put together, we did not even have an average of one replay per game.”

The Big Ten decided against the challenge system used by the NFL because it did not want to put additional pressure on head coaches. Parry brought up the example of former N.Y. Giant head coaches who had a streak of 10 unsuccessful challenges during his tenure and was regularly ridiculed by the fans in the stands. “We didn’t want anything like that here,” Parry explained.

The conference has hired six technical advisers who have a collective 55 years of experience officiating in the Big Ten. They will be paid $725 per game to sit in a secure, private booth and review the appropriate calls. The overall cost is estimated to be less than $100,000, said Big Ten associate commissioner Mark Rudner. If a game is not televised – only one of 44 conference games was not on TV last year – the Big Ten will set up its own television production, at a cost of $15,000 to $20,000.

Most Big Ten coaches are genuinely pleased with the development and the way the Big Ten plans to execute the system. “I think it’s going to help,’’ said Penn State head coach Joe Paterno. “All of us want the game to be determined by the kids. Instant replay is fine, as long as it doesn’t change the tempo of the game.”

None have been pushing for the system longer than Illinois head coach Ron Turner. “With modern technology if you have a chance to get a play right that can decide the outcome of a game or can decide the outcome of the conference or could have an impact on the BCS or anything else, get it right,” said Turner.

“I feel very good about instant replay,” said Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez. “I think it’s going to help us get more calls right. I am especially proud and happy that the Big Ten is taking the lead in this.

“I think it’s a win-win situation for all of us (the Big Ten coaches),” Northwestern head coach Randy Walker said. “Some will go our way and some will go against us, but the important thing is that we will get calls right.”

Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel ultimately went along with his peers, but he was not ready to give a full-fledged endorsement of the system. “I have a little reservation,” Tressel said. “Replay will only correct some of the human error – not holding or clipping or late hits. I don’t know if it’s realistic to review everything because we don’t want six-hour games.”

Even die-hard fans don’t want six hour games...