Greetings. Maybe you’re reading this post while you’re watching a college football game that’s in the midst of a video review, which seems like it will never end.
How video review and coaches’ challenges work in college football
Most reviews come from the booth, but coaches can initiate them, too.
Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images
College football started using instant replay to review calls on the field in the mid-2000s, first in specific conferences and later nationwide. The result has been more correct calls (good!) and more time waiting while guys in striped shirts talk on headsets (bad).
1. Per NCAA instant replay rules, most types of calls are reviewable.
The most common things to come up that aren’t reviewable are penalties. Only these are reviewable (including when not called on the field):
- Targeting
- Blocking by the kicking team before its players are eligible to touch the ball on an onside kick
- A player going beyond the neutral zone while kicking the ball
- The number of players a team has on the field
- A player making a forward pass or forward handoff when past the line of scrimmage or after a turnover (or a forward pass that becomes legal after another pass is ruled to be a lateral)
- Illegal touching of a forward pass or a kick
Wondering if something was a catch or a fumble, or if a guy got enough yardage for a first down? They can review that. Want another look at that holding penalty? Tough.
2. In college football, most reviews are initiated by officials.
Every game has a head replay official with a crew. NCAA rules say they have to review every play of the game. They can stop a game whenever the crew head believes:
- There’s “reasonable evidence to believe an error was made in the initial on-field ruling”
- The play is reviewable
- The outcome of a review would “have a direct, competitive impact” on the game”
3. College head coaches can make challenges, like in the NFL.
Each team gets one per game, with a second if the first challenge is successful.
The coach has to call a timeout to request the challenge. If his team is already out of timeouts, he can’t challenge, but if a challenge is successful, he gets the timeout back. There are no red challenge flags, like they have in the pros.
4. No matter how the review starts, it works the same way.
The rulebook says the whole replay crew is supposed to be at least three people — the “replay official,” a “communicator,” and a “technician.”
Conferences and schools get to decide equipment and logistics, unlike in the NFL, where every ref looks at a tablet. The NCAA has traditionally required the replay staff to work out of the press box, but conferences are now allowed to have their own command centers elsewhere.
The replay officials radio down to the field (either directly to the referee or to the replay staff “communicator”), and the referee announces that a play’s going to be reviewed.
The replay official watches the video and conveys his decision to the communicator on the field and the referee. The ref then announces the call to the world.
On-field officials can’t stop the game to ask for a review. The review has to come from upstairs or by way of a coach’s challenge.
Video review is one of the many things that’s made games longer. Reviews are extremely boring to sit through. But if you care about calls going the right way, they’re a good thing.
See More:
