Several close calls during playoffs heat back up discussion of instant replay and how to implement it.
Capability lacking in some stadiums used in early rounds
College Station was hanging on to a 20-19 lead and trying to milk the fourth-quarter clock against Aledo in the Class 5A Division II state championship game on Saturday.
Then an Aledo defender ripped the ball for a fumble, recovering it with nothing but green in front of him, potentially leading to one of the more exciting finishes of the weekend.
The runner was called down before the rip. It was close. But in the end, College Station slayed a Texas high school football giant.
“My son came down and told me it was a fumble,” Aledo coach Steve Wood said. “Until I look at the video, I think it’d be wrong for me to comment on that, in all honesty. Officials didn’t take the game away from us. Last thing I want to get up here and sound like is sour grapes.”
Wood’s humble approach didn’t stop debate over the play from making the social media rounds.
The same goes for Manvel receiver Jalen Preston’s supposed 31-yard touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter against Highland Park in Friday’s Class 5A Division I title game. At first glance, TV replay from one angle showed Preston threading the needle and crossing the pylon while inbounds. But he was ultimately called out.
“I thought I was in,” Preston said after the game. “I had to be in.”
The fourth-quarter touchdown catch of Cy-Fair’s Erick Hallett in the state semifinal against Austin Westlake fits the bill, too. Some debated that Hallett, known more for his prowess as a defensive back, was out of bounds on his haul.
In a state quarterfinal, two debatable touchdown calls went Allen’s way against Euless Trinity. Sooner or later
Perhaps instant replay in high school football changes none of these calls. But the case continues to be made every year that a game of inches needs it in some fashion.
“I think it’s safe to say it’s when and not if,” University Interscholastic League deputy director Jamey Harrison said.
If the road to instant replay in high school football is an inevitable path, then the biggest question is when it will be implemented.
Harrison said the topic was brought to the UIL football rules committee — made up of coaches and officials — last April. The committee wasn’t quite ready for it, but the momentum hasn’t quelled. The subject will be broached again this coming April, and perhaps this postseason provided all the evidence needed to move forward with it.
The biggest hangup is the concept of playing 15 weeks with one set of rules and a 16th game by a different set.
That’s the other twist: That 16th game at the single-site state championships may be the only time when instant replay is fairly implemented across the board.
AT&T Stadium, for example, has the capability. The state’s other two indoor stadiums could handle it as well. Harrison said the UIL has had discussions with the Dallas Cowboys, Fox (on whose networks the state title games are broadcast) and companies that can provide the equipment.
Instant replay from six-man to Class 6A championship games is very much possible. Outside of that?
“Having replay for every game or even every playoff game is simply not possible,” Harrison said. “The venues just don’t have the capability.”
Texas high school football stadiums have made the kind of advancements that suggest many are capable of using some form of instant replay, but not all are as shiny and new as Legacy Stadium or Allen’s Eagle Stadium.
Harrison said having instant replay for one group of quarterfinals and not the others isn’t something the UIL wants to do. The blueprint
The UIL looks to the NCAA for a blueprint on how exactly instant replay would be used in a game. Under college guidelines, booth or replay officials have the ability to review plays, and coaches have challenges. But even that is up for debate. “I’m not sure we would do it exactly the way NCAA rules call for,” Harrison said. “Most of the conversation has been state championship games only. Booth reviews only. No coaches’ challenges. We could go exactly as it’s written in college football, or we could do a modified version.”
Either way, fans won’t be quieted over a close call here or there or a knee down here or there.
As Allen coach Terry Gambill said after his team’s win over Euless Trinity, close calls are part of the game.