Instant Replay: Who's doing what.

Even though the Big 10's use of replay in 2004 was well publicized before the season began, news didn't trickle down to everyone. I was in Las Vegas watching the Purdue/Wisconsin game last year (which turned out to be one of the best games of the year) with some buddies at the home of FSN's Poker at the Plaza, the Plaza. The guy behind me had obviously bet a significant amount of money on Purdue and the Boilermakers just had a call go in their favor when the ruling was reviewed by the replay official. Despite the fact it was October, two-thirds of the way through the season at the time, the problem gambler (obviously a local who chose to spend his entire day at the Plaza sportsbook) was absolutely flabbergasted and said something to the effect of "Instant replay in college football???? You've gotta be #*$%! kidding me".

So we moved into offseason 2005 and it seems like every couple of weeks this summer we heard about another conference that was either considering or adopting some form of instant replay after last year's alleged success with the program in the Big 10.

Now, while my Vegas friend (who lost on that game thanks to the late Kyle Orton fumble) didn't have an excuse for not knowing the status of replay, it is very forgivable to have a little unclarity regarding the replay situation in '05 since there's such a wide variety of conference legislation out there regarding this subject.

I wouldn't want any of my readers in 2005 to see Ball St. score a touchdown against the Eastern Michigan defense on a clearly trapped ball, assume that the play will be overturned, only to later realize that the MAC is one of the few conferences that has yet to approve replay for this year.

So here's the rundown:

The Pac 10, Conference USA, and the ACC will all use a clone of the Big 10 replay system.

The SEC is using a tecnologically souped-up version of the Big 10 system.

The Big XII is looking at using a sideline monitor like the NFL, allowing the on-field referee to review the play and to contact the in-booth replay official, but giving only the booth replay official authority to make the final call after review.

The Big East will use replay, and will soon be announcing the specific in-game procedures.

The Mountain West is proposing an NFL-like coach's challenge system that is yet to be approved by the NCAA.

The WAC sounds like they're going to hold off on instant replay, and I haven't been able to find anything on the MAC yet. Let me know if you do.

Duke will get at least one top 25 vote

I'm so glad that Steve Spurrier is back in college football. I don't have the intense dislike for him that most non-Florida fans do. I loved his tongue-in-cheek, yet needling remarks toward his SEC rivals like "You cant' spell citrus withouth 'UT'".

Well, the hits keep coming. Here he reveals that for several years he's been giving Duke a vote in the preseason poll because he simply likes them (in case you didn't know, he's a former Blue Devil head coach).

Speaking of the SEC, they are jumping on the instant replay bandwagon. League officials said that they'll use a system similar to the Big 10's from 2004, but that instead of relying on tivo, they'll use a fancy nine panel touch screen monitor. Supposedly, it will speed the process up considerably. While reading the articles about this, I keep picturing these two conferences as two guys trying to one-up each other with tech-gadget purchases. One gets Tivo on his 27" plasma HDTV, then, not to be outdone, his buddy goes with the 36" LCD model with touch screen functionality. The good news about this conference arms/tech race is that MTV Cribs: Vanderbilt Press Box will be airing soon.

That reminds me, my favorite thing about the Big 10 replay was the camera installed in the room where the replay official was stationed. The first time I saw it was in the Wisconsin/Bowling Green game, and they cut to a shot of the replay official, and the guy was slouching in his chair, with his hand mere inches from slipping into the front of his pants Al Bundy-style, with a bottle of Aquafina (that might as well have been a Miller Lite) by his side. I saw it and immediately called the Big Ten offices for a job application.

Speaking of things going on in the booth at Wisconsin games, does anyone remember the ESPN broadcast of the Wisconsin/Northwestern game in (I'm guessing) about 1996? Probably not, but its notable because Chris Farley was in the broadcast booth for a while. The only thing i remember from that game was when one of the ESPN guys, I believe Mike Gottfried, was talking about Aaron Gibson as the camera panned to him on the sideline. As the shot got tighter, Gottfried (if it was him) said, in a kind of oddly serious tone, "he is just a behemoth, weighing in at 395 pounds" or something like that. Then there was this awkward silence for about 5 seconds because they wanted to hear Farley's reaction. Eventually, Farley just says, "God bless him". It doesn't translate to the written medium that well, but it was absolutely hillarious.

If anyone knows which game that is or, better yet, has it on tape, email me.