ACC Commissioner John Swofford on Thursday said that the conference will "experiment with a collaborative replay system for football games beginning next season," according to Safid Deen of the TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT. The system will be "similar to the NFL’s, which allows referees to determine the correct outcome of decisions on the field with the help from a fellow officials at a command center." Replay officials at ACC HQ in Greensboro "will have a live feed of conference and non-conference games played at ACC venues and at Notre Dame in real time." The system was "approved on an experimental basis" for '16. The ACC will "report its findings to the NCAA Football Rules Committee" in February in hopes of "making collaborative replay a part of college football moving forward" (TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT, 5/13). In Louisville, Steve Jones notes the ACC is the "first conference to move forward with a central replay office." All video feeds that are "available during a review to the in-stadium replay official will be also available to the replay officials." ACC Assistant Coordinator for Instant Replay Ted Jackson will be "among those in the conference office each week" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 5/13). ACC Senior Associate Commissioner/Football Operations Michael Strickland said that many of the details "still had to be hammered out but the league would make a 'significant' investment in the technology required to ensure the proper equipment is installed at each venue." He said that the ACC "tested out collaborative replay during the Clemson spring game." Strickland said that Jackson and ACC Football Officiating Coordinator Dennis Hennigan "spent time at the NFL office and visited" with NFL VP/Officiating Dean Blandino to "study how they operate" (ESPN.com, 5/12).
CENTRAL COMMAND: In Raleigh, Andrew Carter noted the idea "isn't for the guys back at headquarters to 'overrule' the crew that's working the game." It is "about working together" and decreasing "the likelihood of mistakes." More eyeballs and more checks and balances "should make hope a reality" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 5/13). Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said, "I don't think anything has changed drastically because everybody still has replay at the site. But I think there were a few instances last year where if there had been a central command, they probably would have overruled it, or jumped in and gotten involved" (Charleston POST & COURIER, 5/13).
