REPLAY CHALLENGE OPTION DECISION DUE

[AWK 0]

May 30, 2006

TONY BARNHART

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Ten of 13 college football coaches surveyed by the Journal-Constitution said they believe the game's instant-replay system should include some kind of coach's challenge. They and the rest of college football will find out today whether an NCAA committee agrees with them.

The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel is scheduled to meet by conference call, and among the items on their agenda is a vote on whether to add a coach's challenge to the instant-replay system.

Technically, every play is supposed to be reviewed in the system that has already been adopted for this fall. An official in the booth looks at every play during the course of the game and stops the action if he determines that the play should be reviewed.

But mistakes were made. In the Rose Bowl in January, replays clearly showed the knee of Texas quarterback Vince Young on the ground when he made a pitch to Selvin Young, who ran for a touchdown. The officials in the booth didn't review the play because their monitor had malfunctioned, and by the time it was fixed, the game had moved on.

Texas won the game (41-38) and the BCS national championship.

In some cases last season, coaches would call time when officials simply decided not to review a play. Sometimes officials took the hint and reviewed the play. Sometimes they didn't, and the coach was left fuming  and minus a timeout.

In February the NCAA Football Rules Committee recommended a universal set of instant-replay rules that included a coach's challenge. The rules committee recommended one challenge per game that the coach could keep as long as his challenge was upheld. If a coach challenged a play and the ruling on the field stood, he would lose a timeout and the challenge for the rest of the game.

"Based on everything we had heard, we thought it would be the least disruptive," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. "It gives a coach a chance if he thinks there is a blatant error."

But in March, the Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which has the final word on all rules changes in all NCAA sports, put the idea on hold, asking for more input from the American Football Coaches Association and the Collegiate Commissioners Association.

Today's decision is expected to go one of three ways:

•No challenge. There is concern about the length of games, which are steadily creeping toward the

3-hour, 30 minute mark on average. The Oversight Panel might rule that a coach's challenge would further slow down a game.

•One challenge per game, which was the rules committee's original recommendation. A coach would have to be very smart about when to use the challenge because if he's wrong, he has no recourse late in the game if officials make a mistake.

•One challenge per half. This idea is gaining momentum among the coaches because it would not result in a loss of a timeout, even if the challenge were denied.

The Mountain West Conference was the only league to employ a coaches' challenge in its instant-replay system in 2005. During the course of the season, 35 challenges were made by coaches. Five of the calls were reversed.

Some coaches, however, wonder if it would be better to leave the system alone and let it fall on the shoulders of the officials. To them, it's one more thing that can be second-guessed by fans and the media.

"I'm torn because, frankly, I've got enough on my plate as it is," Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said.

"This would be just one more thing the head coach has to be concerned about on game day."

Link

[quietfan 233]

Somewhat a side issue, but the length of games stretching toward the 3.5 hour mark has more to do with commercial breaks for television, if you ask me. (Although I suppose the growth of passing offenses in recent years also contributes somewhat.) I understand it's like asking the sun to stop rising, but if they'd reduce the number of TV ads they sell, gamelength wouldn't be such a problem.

I know not every game is on TV, but with the growth of smaller regional networks like Jefferson Pilot, an awful lot if not most of the major games get on commercial TV somewhere.

[hccobb 0]

Anyone know which way this decision went?

[WarTiger 3,909]

Link

NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel Approves Football Coaches' Challenge, Basketball Proposals

For Immediate Release

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Contact

Ty Halpin

Associate Director for Playing

Rules Administration

317/917-6136

INDIANAPOLIS--The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved proposals from several rules committees today, including a coaches challenge component for the use of video replay in football.

The panel approved a revised proposal by the Football Rules Committee to allow one challenge opportunity per team per game, provided the team requesting the challenge has a timeout available. If the challenge is successful, the timeout will be retained, but that will be the only challenge opportunity in the game for that team. If the challenge is not successful, a timeout will be charged.

“This revised proposal achieves the intended result of the rules committee to incorporate a challenge into the video replay system,” said John Cochrane, commissioner of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and chair of the panel.

Also in football, the rules committee revised its recommendation with regard to halftime. The rule will state that halftime is recommended to be 20 minutes in duration but allow the competing institutions to shorten or lengthen halftime by mutual consent.

The panel also approved all proposals as submitted by the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Rules Committees. Included in the package was the requirement that, beginning with the 2010 season, Division II and III institutions will be required to have a game clock with the 10th of a second display, a red light or LED lights and shot clocks mounted on the backboard.

“The panel’s main concern with this change was financial, and the group is comfortable that the rules committees have provided plenty of time to plan and budget for this important aspect of the game,” Cochrane said.

MAJOR this is for YOU!!!!

Also approved was the rules committees’ proposal that does not allow an airborne player falling out of bounds or into the backcourt to be granted a timeout.

In other actions, all proposals from the rifle and wrestling rules committees were approved. The committee also received reports from the field hockey and women’s gymnastics championships committees. The NCAA does not write the playing rules for field hockey or women’s gymnastics, so championships committees may propose rules modifications.

In field hockey, the panel accepted the proposal that established a more detailed procedure for the administration of a red card, similar to what is in place in soccer. Additionally, the panel heard an informational item that the field hockey committees are requesting the appointment of a rules interpreter.

In women’s gymnastics, the panel approved a proposal to allow the use of video to correct errors in scoring a routine. This proposal does not allow teams to use video to question judgment but does allow for reviews specific to the performance (or non-performance) of a particular skill, combination of skills or neutral deductions (e.g., out of bounds).