The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved a rule change last Tuesday
that will allow college football coaches to challenge one call by officials
per game for review by replay, provided the team has an available timeout.
The team will be charged a timeout only if the challenge is unsuccessful and
the call stands. Certain calls such as pass interference and intentional
grounding will not be reviewable. In 2005, the NCAA allowed all conferences
to adopt some form of instant replay, but the only person who could request
a review of a referee's call was an official sitting in a booth above the
field.
The Big Ten Conference first introduced instant replay in college
football with a pilot program in 2003, and the conference adopted a modified
system one year later. Last year, almost all of the 11 Division I-A
conferences used some system of instant replay in their conference games.
