In 2006, the NCAA Football Rules Committee enacted instant replay guidelines and added them to the football playing rules. For games involving two schools from the same conference, league policy determines whether replay will be used. For non-conference games, the home team makes the determination.
Plays involving the sideline, goal line, end zone and end line, as well as other detectable situations, are reviewable (e.g., fumble/no fumble, pass complete/incomplete, touchdown/no touchdown, runner down/not down, player or ball inbounds/out of bounds, clock adjustments). Most fouls (e.g., holding, offside, pass interference) are not reviewable, except that in 2006, illegal forward passes, handoffs and punts from beyond the line of scrimmage, and too many players on the field are reviewable and the foul may be called after replay review. Also, while the foul of pass interference is not reviewable, it can be overturned on review based on touching of the pass. By rule, pass interference cannot apply if a pass has been touched by any player before the foul occurs, and the touching of a pass is a reviewable call.When replay is used, a Replay Official (usually a former college, NFL or XFL game official) reviews every play at its conclusion from a secure booth in the press box. Most plays are routine and the game continues without interruption. If, however, the following criteria are met, the Replay Official may interrupt the contest by paging the game officials to stop the game before the next play starts. The criteria are:
* There is reasonable evidence to believe an error was made in the initial on-field ruling.
* The play is reviewable.
* Any reversal of the on-field ruling, which can only result from indisputable video evidence, would have a direct, competitive impact on the game.
Once per game, each head coach may also call a timeout and challenge the ruling on the previous play before the next play starts. A coach must have at least one timeout remaining in order to challenge (teams receive three timeouts per half). If the challenge is successful and the on-field ruling is overturned, the team keeps its timeout. If not, the team loses its timeout. In either event, the head coach may not challenge again during the game.
After reviewing the play from available video angles, the Replay Official decides if the call should be upheld or overturned. If the call is overturned, the Replay Official provides the proper information to restart the game, such as the team in possession, the yardline where the ball should be placed, the correct down and distance, and the correct time on the stadium clock.
College football instant replay started in the 2004 season due to what necessarily happened in the 2001 Michigan vs. Michigan State football game, when reviews were used experimentally in the Big Ten Conference only. In the 2005 season, all conferences were allowed to use instant replay. Among Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (see Division I-A) conferences, the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West Conference, Pac-10, and SEC used replay in 2005. The Sun Belt and Western Athletic did not.
In 2005, the Big 12 initially sought to provide field monitors which would allow the on-field referee to assist the replay official; however, by the first game of the season, they decided to only provide equipment to the instant replay booth. Conference USA used a similar system, but the on-field referee made the decision after viewing a TV monitor on the sideline. The Mountain West Conference was the only league to allow a head coach's challenge. Each head coach got one challenge per half. If the call was overturned, the challenging coach kept his timeout and got a second challenge for that half. If not, the challenging coach lost one of his three timeouts for the half. No more than two challenges per half per coach were allowed.
There is not currently an Instant Replay equipment standard, each conference must choose (and purchase) its own equipment. Therefore, systems are quite disparate: they can be as complex as the high-tech custom systems similar as those used in the NFL to as simple as several large screens hooked up to TiVo boxes.
In 2005, the Big Ten, MAC, and SEC only allowed broadcast video (for games that are televised) to be used to determine the correct call. The other conferences allowed broadcast video and scoreboard video. Most conferences provided video equipment for games that were not televised.
Instant replay was first used in post-season games in the 2005 season. It was used in all 28 bowl games as well as the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, nee 1-AA), Division II and Division III national championship playoff games.
Source: Wikipedia
