College Football Instant Replay Clarification

Submitted by The Barwis Effect on
Can anyone clarify for me the purpose of the coach's challenge in college football? I was under the impression that each play was reviewed in college football. If that is indeed the case, why would a coach risk a timeout challenging a call that supposedly has already been looked at by an official in the replay booth?

Dilithium Wings

September 8th, 2013 at 11:58 AM ^

It's seems as if the review system is abusing their powers. I had always thought the system was their to review a play after they saw it in a replay and wanted to take another look at it. Now it seems like they just stop the play because they want a chance to review a play. It was not supposed to be like that

TakeTheField

September 8th, 2013 at 12:41 PM ^

It seems like the replay officials are sometimes trying to make the call from scratch, instead of reviewing the call already made.  When they take as long as they often do, that's the way it certainly seems.  Once you've found the best angle, you shouldn't have to look at the replay 5 or 6 times to make up your mind.  If you've looked three times and still can't decide, then the evidence clearly isn't "indisputable", and you should let the call on the field stand...

taistreetsmyhero

September 8th, 2013 at 12:11 PM ^

I thought the challenge was terrible and a waste of a timeout, but someobdy in the snowflakes thread argued that perhaps hoke was using the challenge as a way to buy more time for gardner to calm down and collect himself before having to go back out there. the challenge took a good 4-5 minutes it seemed like, and who knows, maybe that was really helpful.

UMgradMSUdad

September 8th, 2013 at 12:25 PM ^

It's nice to believe Hoke was thinking along those lines, but a far more pedestrian reason seems more likely: somebody on the staff thought either the interception hit the ground or Gardner was down before attempting the pass.  Even if Hoke thought there was less than a 5% chance of either scenario playing out, it was worth the challenge.

lilpenny1316

September 8th, 2013 at 12:29 PM ^

But he could have just called a timeout and not wasted a challenge.  It was similar to the Turkey Day blunder by Jim Schwartz where he challenged a punt return for TD, which was not necessary because of the auto review.  Only difference is that the NFL calls a penalty for delay of game, or something similar, nullifying any possible booth replay.  The college rule is a little more forgiving to the coaches.

JediLow

September 8th, 2013 at 1:00 PM ^

From inside the stadium it was hard to tell that it was a catch - the only angle we had made it look like the ball hit the ground, we didn't have a single angle that they had on the scoreboards (only had 2) that showed his hand under the ball.

Jonesy

September 8th, 2013 at 5:38 PM ^

There were only two replay angles for that play for some reason and both were terrible and you couldnt see his hands or the ball at the crucial moment.  It might not have been a catch but we'll never know unless a photographer had a great shot from a better angle.