Replay Debate Unlikely to Reach College Ranks

COLUMBIA, Miss. —  Even though instant replay is the subject of renewed debate in the National Football League, it isn’t likely to show up in college football anytime soon, NCAA officials and coaches said.

The NFL is considering taking a vote on reinstating instant replay review of officials’ calls for the playoffs after several high-profile disputed calls in recent weeks. The league used it from 1986-91, then scrapped it largely because it took too much time.

While debate rages over instant replay in the NFL, it probably won’t even be a topic of discussion at the NCAA rules committee meeting Feb. 14-16 in San Diego. Ensuring that video equipment would be available for every college football game would be too expensive for some programs, even though some coaches favor it.

“We make rules for over 700 schools, and 700 schools can’t have the same equipment--that would be the big objection,” said John Adams, former head of officials for the Western Athletic Conference and a member of the rules committee.

The lack of television coverage, especially below Division I-A, would make it near impossible for the NCAA to implement, said Adams, who is a liaison between the committee and referees. Rules have to be the same for Divisions I-A, I-AA, II and III.

The committee considered instant replay during the mid-1980s, although it hasn’t come up since, Adams said.

With bowl appearances worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, bad calls can cost a program more than a game, said Missouri coach Larry Smith, whose Tigers went 7-4 and are headed for the Insight.com Bowl and a $750,000 payday.

“A couple calls here or there and we could be 9-2,” said Smith, also on the rules committee. “We also could have been 5-6, you never know.”

At 9-2, Missouri might have earned the Big 12’s spot in the Cotton Bowl and as much as a $2.5 million payout. A 5-6 record would have made the Tigers ineligible for bowl consideration.

“That’s why it’s so critically important,” Smith said.

If anyone knows about controversial calls, it’s Smith.

Last year, Missouri was seconds from upsetting top-ranked Nebraska when Cornhuskers quarterback Scott Frost lofted a pass into the endzone that ricocheted off the chest of receiver Shevin Wiggins. He kicked the ball into the air before it hit the ground, and teammate Matt Davison grabbed it for the tying score.

Although a kick is illegal, referees ruled that the touchdown counted and Nebraska tied the game. The Cornhuskers won in overtime, and finished the season undefeated with a share of the national championship.

“It (the kick) definitely would have been brought up, and a judgment call would have been made by the official if he had seen it slowly,” Smith said.

University of Texas coach Mack Brown also supports instant replay. “I have always thought instant replay was a good thing, simply because you don’t want human error to cost a coach, a university or a team a chance to win a football game,” Brown said.

Tennessee’s Phillip Fulmer, whose team will play in the Fiesta Bowl against Florida State for the national title, isn’t anxious to see instant replay.

“I tend to think those things even themselves out over a period of time,” Fulmer said. “I like the game the way it is--I don’t think I’d like all the delays.

Still, Fulmer said he isn’t against the idea altogether, and it should be considered during the offseason.

It’s not likely. Smith and Adams said the instant replay issue isn’t on the rules committee agenda for the meetings two months from now.

“I don’t really expect it,” Smith said. “I don’t think I’ll see it in my lifetime.”