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The ACC opened the curtain on replay reviews, now the Big 12, Big Ten and SEC need to follow suit

Andy Staples head shotby: Andy Staples7 hours agoandy_staples
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The most important moment in Saturday’s Clemson–Georgia Tech game wasn’t when the Yellow Jackets ran their field goal team onto the field with the clock ticking to set up a game-winner as time expired. The moment that should reverberate through the college football world came earlier in the fourth quarter when these words burst forth from everyone’s televisions.

“This is Replay. Stop the game. Stop the game,” replay official Todd Evans said into a microphone from his perch in the press box of Bobby Dodd Stadium. “Reviewing the score. Reviewing the catch.”

Evans’ voice normally would only be heard in the earpiece of referee Adam Savoie. But this time, those of us watching on television heard the entire exchange. Seconds later, Savoie flipped on his microphone. “The ruling on the field of a touchdown is under further review,” Savoie told the crowd inside the stadium.

Then Savoie trotted over to the portable video monitor that connected him to Evans in the press box and the ACC’s Game Day Operations Center in Charlotte. And we all got to watch — and listen — as Savoie communicated with the command center to determine whether Clemson tight end Josh Sapp had possession of the ball when he toe-tapped in the end zone on what initially appeared to be a 2-yard touchdown reception that would give Clemson a chance to tie the score with 3:29 remaining.

The ACC had been allowing viewers to watch and listen to replay reviews in select games this season, but this was the first time we got to watch a crunch-time review of a critical play in a game involving potential conference title contenders. It was enlightening. It was educational. Most important: It was transparent.

And now that we’ve gotten a taste, we should demand this level of transparency in every game from every league. The ACC isn’t afraid to shine a light on the process. And now that the ACC has shown how it’s done, the Big 12, Big Ten and SEC need to quit being scared and let us see and hear the replay reviews in their leagues as well.

In that critical review in the Clemson-Georgia Tech game, the command center showed Savoie a multitude of camera angles. Command center staff showed Savoie a shot from a handheld camera on one sideline that appeared to show Sapp bobbling the ball as his feet landed in bounds. Based on that shot, Sapp didn’t have control until after his feet traveled out of bounds.

“Do you see a loss of control with a foot in the white?” Savoie asked, referring to Sapp having a foot touching the back line of the end zone at that point in the play.  

“I don’t think he has control there,” Evans said. 

“I agree with you,” Savoie said.

But Savoie wanted to make sure. He asked for the high end zone angle to double-check what he saw from the other angle. The command center gave him a menu of multiple shots. The high end zone is not as useful for television purposes; it usually is used by the teams when they study film to evaluate their teams or to scout future opponents.

“Guys, I’ve got enough from that sideline shot to show no control, incomplete pass. So after further review, the pass was incomplete. It’s going to be second down on the 2-yard line at the left hash. The clock is good?”

Evans assured Savoie that the clock — which stopped on the initial ruling of touchdown — was correct. Savoie told the crowd, and Georgia Tech fans cheered. Their enthusiasm was short-lived because Clemson back Adam Randall scored on the next play and the Tigers got the two-point conversion to tie the score at 21. The fun for the home crowd came later when Yellow Jackets kicker Aidan Birr drilled a 55-yard field goal as time expired for the win.

The fun for the football nerds among us was getting a peek behind the curtain of a process that has long felt mysterious. And there really wasn’t anything mysterious about it at all. It sounded like professionals trying to ensure the calls were correct.

We’ve seen this before in professional minor leagues. The Alliance of American Football debuted the concept in its lone season in 2000. Later that year, the rebooted XFL made replay reveals standard procedure. That team, masterminded by former Stanford center Sam Schwartzstein, provided viewers with a glimpse of precisely what league officials and the referee saw and heard during reviews.

The ACC launched its version of the concept this season. What’s interesting is Clemson-Georgia Tech wasn’t originally one of the games the ACC planned to allow that peek. The program debuted two weeks ago, and the league has already expanded it.

The ACC experimented late last season with allowing someone to listen in on the replay decisions in a game. ESPN rules analyst — and former referee — Matt Austin was allowed to hear the replay deliberations for the Nov. 21 game between NC State and Georgia Tech. The hope was that the extra information would help Austin more accurately explain the process on the air.

This offseason, commissioner Jim Phillips and other ACC officials decided to let the viewers see and hear the deliberations for select games. It started with the East Texas A&M-SMU game on Aug. 30, which you could be excused for not watching. The James Madison–Louisville Friday night feature on Sept. 5 got the same treatment, but not a huge audience.

The only game originally scheduled for this weekend was ACC After Dark between Boston College and Stanford on the ACC Network. But this week the league decided to allow viewers to see and hear reviews in Thursday’s NC State-Wake Forest game and the Clemson-Georgia Tech game.

Hopefully the ACC keeps expanding to as many games as possible, because all this can do is increase trust that officials are just trying to get the calls correct. Certainly there will be a moment where the on-field officials and the replay officials get a call wrong, but if we see all the times they get it right, it makes the occasional mistake more forgivable.

Plus, access to replay decisions means eventually we’re going to see a completely bananas replay in all its glory. The ACC has most of its remaining Friday night games scheduled for this treatment. Had that been the case last year, we would have been able to hear the communication on the review of this play.

When that happens, it will melt social media, and we’ll be glued to our TVs.

Thanks to the ACC for having the guts to do this. Now it’s time for the other leagues to follow suit. By the start of next season, every college football broadcast should televise every replay review this way.

You’ve seen how it needs to be done. The ACC showed you. Now get to work.