Big Ten to request replay experiment for 2004

The Big Ten will ask the NCAA football rules committee next month to allow instant replay on an experimental basis for the 2004 season.

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Compared to the NFL, the Big Ten's version of instant replay has nominal costs and would be used only in the 44 conference games and any non-conference games agreed to by the visiting coach.

The Big Ten used a pilot program last season and found that out of approximately 10,800 plays in 68 games, 50 would have been reviewed. Half of the rulings made would have been overturned, according to Dave Parry, the league's supervisor of officials.

"If a coach could have been 7-5 and get a bowl bid in one call, you can understand where he is coming from," said Parry, a former NFL official.

Calls would be overturned only in the case of "indisputable visual evidence," Parry said.

"Anything marginal or close, you go with the official. If obviously a guy stepped out of bounds and it's a bogus touchdown, we would correct that," he added.

Big Ten coaches voted to support the measure during the American Football Coaches Association annual convention earlier this month in Orlando, Fla. In a change of heart from last spring, Big Ten athletic directors also supported the experiment, Parry said.

Joe Paterno's complaining is one reason the Big Ten decided to look into instant replay.(Getty Images)

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany did not want to comment because the proposal was pending legislation. Eight of the 12 committee members (two-thirds) would have to support the proposal in order for it to pass. The committee meets Feb. 9-11 in Indianapolis.

There is no indication on how the committee might vote, but the measure supposedly has at least one supporter on the committee: Michigan coach Lloyd Carr. Plus, the committee has to be impressed that the conference did its homework with the pilot program and is proposing a detailed but relatively inexpensive form of instant replay.

Whatever the result, the fact instant replay is now this close to college football is sure to stir every emotion from consternation to joy.

"If it passes in the NCAA and the word is out there, 'Hey, the Big Ten is going to do this,' I'm almost positive we'll get lots of calls from all over the country," Parry said. "'How are you going to do it? How much does it cost?'"

The addition of even experimental instant replay in college would be seen as a huge step for the game. It would spark arguments over spending in an era of cost-containment. There is also the purity issue, whether the college game is mirroring the NFL too much. College football has adopted several of the pro game's rules over the years.

Part of college football's charm has always been the human element provided by the officials.

"There is something to be said there is a human factor and you keep it that way," said rules committee chairman Herb Deromedi, the Central Michigan athletic director. "It's only the fact that this technology has come about (that instant replay is possible). I'm not saying it's wrong. Everybody is concerned about fairness. An official would feel better than to have something corrected at the site than to all of the sudden go home and the nation finds out he's been in error."

The NFL spends millions on instant replay. The Big Ten proposal would require an investment of less than $2,000 at each Big Ten stadium, according to estimates supplied by Parry and Deromedi. The fact that approximately 95 percent of Big Ten games are televised also makes instant replay feasible.

For the Big Ten's most viable proposal, no additional manpower would be needed. A league observer already on duty in the press box would communicate via walkie-talkie with a timer on the field, who would then stop play. The Big Ten observer (usually a former official) would then review the play on a personal monitor and render a decision.

The projected costs for a set of high-end walkie-talkies at each school is $750 per school. Observers' pay would be upgraded $100 to $800 per game. Headsets would cost $50-$100. One of the monitors that already exist in every press box might have to be dedicated to the observer's spot.

"Jim Delany likes to tease me," Parry said. "He calls it the Michigan City, Ind., System. That's my home. That's fancy talk for low-budget."

Coaches might decide to institute a challenge system similar to the NFL at some future date, Parry said, if the measure is passed.

"I think we're headed down that road," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said.

John Adams, the secretary-editor of the rules committee said: "The whole load is on the observer's shoulders. No. 1, to recognize that there is a problem. No. 2, to get the thing stopped before the next play. No. 3, to make the correct decision."

The Big Ten's pilot program in 2003 sprung out of a series of controversial calls in the 2002 season. Because of those calls, Penn State coach Joe Paterno and athletic director Tim Curley requested a comprehensive review of the officiating.

The league found that while its officials were doing a competent job, a pilot program was needed. None of the 54 officials who worked the 2002 season were fired. During the pilot program in 2003, no games were affected. Instead the observer "red-starred" controversial calls during the game and discussed them with league officials on Mondays.

"The first thing on the agenda for each (observer) when he turned in his report was, 'Tell me which plays and how many would have been involved in replay,'" Parry said.

On average, for every three games last season, two plays that would qualify for a review would emerge, Parry said. Of the reviewed plays, approximately 25 would have been overturned.

"Maybe eight to 10 -- a coach might say 12 -- were impact plays, but I won't say game breakers," Parry said. "I don't think we had a game where that play would have decided the game."

Big Ten coaches voted 11-0 in May to use a low-cost replay system on an experimental basis. However, the ADs voted against the measure. Their change of mind made the historic experiment possible.

"We've had one experimental rule in 135 years. Nobody took advantage of it," Adams said. "A few years ago, we allowed a 45-second play clock. We took it off the books."

This experiment won't fade away any time soon.