Expect Video Replay In Big East Football
Edsall Among Those Who Favor It

February 11, 2005
By DESMOND CONNER, Courant Staff Writer The Big East football coaches were very much in favor of using the video replay system when talk of the subject came up at the annual conference meetings in Newport, R.I., last summer.

But last season, the Big Ten was the only conference to experiment with video replay. This year, many conferences, including the Big East, want to have it, too.

"We monitored the Big Ten very closely last season with regard to the video replay system," Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said Thursday. "And from our perspective, it was very successful."

Many conferences have asked for permission to use the system. And Wednesday, the NCAA Football Rules Committee recommended that all schools and conferences be allowed to use it.

The recommendation will be considered by an oversight panel Feb. 24 and, if approved, will be put in place for the 2005 regular season.

"I know the Big Ten is planning to share what it did, how it worked with the other conferences," Tranghese said. "But I think a lot of schools and conferences are excited about it. I know our coaches were in favor of it, so we'll see what happens."

The Big Ten used replay in 28 of 57 conference games. Of the 43 calls questioned, 21 were overturned. And time didn't appear to be much of a factor. Games in which replay was used averaged just three minutes longer.

Under Wednesday's recommendation, any conference that wants to use video replay must confirm its plans with the rules committee by June 1. You can bet the Big East - which will add Louisville, South Florida and Cincinnati next season - is going to have its yes vote in on time.

"You have to have two years experimenting with it before it gets adopted," Tranghese said. "The Big Ten will be in year two and everybody else in their first year, but it's something I could see being adopted sooner rather than later."

UConn coach Randy Edsall said he hopes all the conference athletic directors give the system a thumbs-up because all the coaches did.

"I think it's going to assist the officials," Edsall said. "It's not that you don't trust officials, it's just having a system, a mechanism in place, that aids them. You had two calls early in the Super Bowl [on Sunday] that were overturned using replay. With the video replay, you're able to get it right. We're all human and people make mistakes. But the bottom line is, a call could determine the outcome of a game and it could be the wrong call. It could be the difference between whether a team plays for a championship or goes to a BCS game, which could mean losing $13 million or $14 million. Or even going to a bowl game, you could miss out on one of those, so ... I'm in favor it. I think all of the coaches in the conference are."

The video replay system would not be used in bowl games or in NCAA championships below the Division I level.

"I think without it, there's always a chance that a team could get a call that it didn't deserve and I think replay helps avoid that," Edsall said