CenTexSports
09-20-2006, 11:08 AM
A friend of mine works a lot of major SEC games as the on field timing official and network coordinator. He wrote the following article about SEC replay. He wrote this prior to the OU vs Oregon controversy.
It's my call
By: William Correro September 19, 2006
I had a chance to visit with NFL Supervisor of Officials, Mike Pereira, at a Memphis Touchdown Club dinner last October and he couldn't wait to tell me how impressed they at the NFL are with our methods of instant replay. His opinion was that he wished they worked replay like we do in the SEC.
The SEC and several other leagues went deep and purchased the very best equipment for each school. Some conferences, including the Big Ten who is the first ever to use replay, only use a Tivo recorder like you'd find in a lot of homes these days. At our last meeting in Birmingham the people who put our system together had a demo rig set up in a meeting room for us to all see. It was the first time those outside of the replay officials and our bosses had seen it in action. There are three monitors in the booth with the first showing the direct High Definition feed from the network. Then there's a touch-screen computer monitor where up to nine different camera shots of the play are seen and these go to the third monitor that the Replay Official is looking at.
The touch-screen is operated by the Communicator who is also an official. The only other person allowed in the replay booth is a technician who is trained by the equipment provider. The Communicator can bookmark the different clips from the different cameras at just the right section of the questioned play and then give each look to the Replay Official's monitor. At the heart of the whole operation is a large computer and for backup, we have a Tivo recorder.
So they are looking at each play and if it's a close play that is reviewable they can punch the button to set off our pagers if they need more time to look at one. The Referee will then signal an official's timeout and make the announcement that the previous play is under review. He then goes to the sideline and puts on a headset to talk with the Communicator up in the booth. The goal is two minutes or less and in our trial last season we managed to keep the average under two minutes. But the very best part of it all is that it does work well and has not slowed the games any. In fact, with the new timing and clock rules this season, I've had two ESPN games less than three hours, which used to be unheard of previously.
What my friend in the NFL likes is how our Replay Official looks at every play and not just the ones inside of two minutes left in each half. Only the coaches can cause a review to happen at any other time in a NFL game. Just more proof the SEC is the best football anywhere. See you next week.
It's my call
By: William Correro September 19, 2006
I had a chance to visit with NFL Supervisor of Officials, Mike Pereira, at a Memphis Touchdown Club dinner last October and he couldn't wait to tell me how impressed they at the NFL are with our methods of instant replay. His opinion was that he wished they worked replay like we do in the SEC.
The SEC and several other leagues went deep and purchased the very best equipment for each school. Some conferences, including the Big Ten who is the first ever to use replay, only use a Tivo recorder like you'd find in a lot of homes these days. At our last meeting in Birmingham the people who put our system together had a demo rig set up in a meeting room for us to all see. It was the first time those outside of the replay officials and our bosses had seen it in action. There are three monitors in the booth with the first showing the direct High Definition feed from the network. Then there's a touch-screen computer monitor where up to nine different camera shots of the play are seen and these go to the third monitor that the Replay Official is looking at.
The touch-screen is operated by the Communicator who is also an official. The only other person allowed in the replay booth is a technician who is trained by the equipment provider. The Communicator can bookmark the different clips from the different cameras at just the right section of the questioned play and then give each look to the Replay Official's monitor. At the heart of the whole operation is a large computer and for backup, we have a Tivo recorder.
So they are looking at each play and if it's a close play that is reviewable they can punch the button to set off our pagers if they need more time to look at one. The Referee will then signal an official's timeout and make the announcement that the previous play is under review. He then goes to the sideline and puts on a headset to talk with the Communicator up in the booth. The goal is two minutes or less and in our trial last season we managed to keep the average under two minutes. But the very best part of it all is that it does work well and has not slowed the games any. In fact, with the new timing and clock rules this season, I've had two ESPN games less than three hours, which used to be unheard of previously.
What my friend in the NFL likes is how our Replay Official looks at every play and not just the ones inside of two minutes left in each half. Only the coaches can cause a review to happen at any other time in a NFL game. Just more proof the SEC is the best football anywhere. See you next week.