ACC officials pleased with replay system
AMELIA ISLAND —The use of collaborative instant replay was a success for the ACC, according to the league’s supervisor of football officials.
Dennis Hennigan said the first of two seasons of the experimental measure “did what it was intended to do.”
“It very quickly became an important part of our officiating system,” Hennigan told the Orlando Sentinel during the league’s spring meetings. “It allowed us to correct mistakes, which is the purpose of replay.
“The purpose of it was to correct mistakes that onfield officials made and having an additional set of eyes in the process was what helped,” he added.
This issue came to a head two seasons ago after a controversial ending to the Miami-Duke game became an embarrassment for the league.
The Hurricanes scored a touchdown on a kickoff return that featured eight-laterals and no time on the clock to defeat Duke. Officials admitted to missing several calls on the play and despite two replay reviews that lasted nearly 10 minutes, the win was eventually awarded to Miami.
Hennigan wouldn’t say whether that play led to the decision by the ACC for centralized replay.
“It’s hard to say,” he said. “The SEC was clearly going to it in 2016. The Pac-12 in some form and the Big Ten. … It would have been on the table.”
ACC officials moved quickly to establish the review process on a two-year experimental basis. ACC stadiums were outfitted with equipment that would allow officials like Hennigan to be looped in on each replay from a centralized location at the ACC offices in Greensboro, N.C.
“It evolved over the course of the season and we had to get comfortable with the technology and the people involved had to get comfortable with the technology involved,” Hennigan added. “The communication between the stadium and Greensboro, that had to be worked on a little bit but overall I thought it was a big success.”
If the ACC was looking for a model of success early on, the league didn’t need to look far with inspiration coming from the NFL as Hennigan made the trip to New York to visit with officials on how to handle a centralized replay.
Speed was also a concern with critics worried the process would slow down the game.
“Our replay time wasn’t up or down from previous seasons,” said Michael Strickland, senior associate commissioner of football.
There was an estimated 240 replays that ACC officials took part with the average time per replay being 1:20 according to Hennigan.
While the league kept records from last season, officials like Hennigan believe it would be tough to quantify specific results. But they feel based on the success, that members of the NCAA Rules Committee and the Football Oversight Committee will choose to push forward on a more permanent basis once the trial-period is over.
With a year under their belts, will this season be an easier process?
“Depends how the ball bounces,” Hennigan says with a laugh.
One of the biggest concerns among conferences nationally is the overall length of football games. The Football Oversight Committee has been discussing ways to shorten games with the ACC averaging 3:38 according to numbers by NCAA.com.
“The approach this year is more from an administration standpoint,” said Hennigan. “Trying to keep halftime to 20 minutes and trying to keep timeouts to the agreed upon lengths.”
Hennigan said officials will be asked to keep things moving a little more efficiently this season.