ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

July 26, 2005

Tommy Hunt

Brian Lowe

Brian Morrison

John Swofford

BRIAN MORRISON: First off, I'd like to welcome to everybody to the State of the Conference with Commissioner John Swofford. The third day of the 32nd annual ACC Football Kickoff. If you look around the room here, this is probably the most people we've had for the Tuesday forum. It's a compliment to you as the media. I appreciate your participation in this event, the coverage has been exceptional. Worth all the time and effort my staff has put into it. What we'll do this afternoon, as you can see, we have some big screen TVs for your enjoyment this afternoon. We're going to start things off with Commissioner John Swofford and Tommy Hunt to talk about instant replay. I know you don't need to talk to me, because I don't have anything to say to you except thank you for coming. I'll turn it over to ACC Commissioner John Swofford.

COMMISSIONER SWOFFORD: Thank you. I thank Brian and his staff for doing a terrific job, putting all the planning and organization into this event, making it work. Thanks to each of you for being here and making this the most well-attended ACC Football Kickoff that we've ever had. We appreciate that. Just briefly looking back a year, I think it's certainly fair to say that our one year as 11 was a very successful one, that we were extremely pleased with. Transition through that year went extraordinarily well and now we're finally to a point where BC is with us and we are the 12 that we first set out to be. I think everybody in the league and everybody associated with the league is tremendously glad to be at that point. I know that I am. I think what we've been able to do together is to solidify the future of this league for years to come with 12 institutions that fit very, very well and give us a great deal of strength in every way. So we're looking forward to this year. It is and will be an historic year in the annals of the ACC, being 12 for the first time, having the opportunity to go to two divisions, having the opportunity to have a football championship game for the first time in our league's history, and the excitement that comes with that. I think we'll see that excitement throughout the regular season because there's more to play for in our league at this point in time than there ever has been before. As you know, so much of our history and tradition has been built on the tremendous success of our basketball programs over the years. I've said this a number of times over the past few years, now with the addition of our three new members, I think we have every opportunity to be just as competitive within the league and just as competitive and respected from a national standpoint in the sport of football as we have been in the sport of basketball for years. I certainly don't see that opportunity in football having any negative effect on the opportunities and the traditions and histories that we have in basketball. I think we've reached a milestone that's a terrific point for this conference to move forward. We're looking forward to that this year. Let me mention to you our new Bowl affiliations. As you know, our conference affiliations currently in effect run through this year. Right now we have, including the BCS, the same six affiliations that we had the previous three years. We're probably a little short on Bowls for one year. What we will do to try -- because everybody else's affiliations are the same. There's very little transition this year in other Bowls. I think we got a couple open Bowls on one end, the new San Diego Bowl I think will be open on one end, the Liberty Bowl may have an opening on one side possibly, and obviously we'll talk with those Bowls that have any potential there. The thing we will need to do during the course of the season is to watch other Bowls and other conferences that may not have enough teams to fill their Bowl slots. Then if we have more than six Bowl-eligible teams, we'll want to do everything we can possibly do to have a home for all of our Bowl-eligible teams if at all possible. But that will be a challenge this particular year. We're very pleased to announce that starting after the 2006 season, we will not only maintain the Bowl affiliations that we have currently, we'll be able to add two more Bowls. We'll have eight affiliations at that time for the 12-member conference. I would think that in the vast majority of the years, that would give us the opportunity to protect all of our Bowl-eligible teams. Not only are we pleased with the addition of the two new Bowls to our list, which would be the Gaylord Hotel Music City Bowl in Nashville, and that will be against the Southeastern Conference, as well as the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco, that will be against the PAC-10 conference. We're extremely pleased to add those two Bowls in two terrific cities against quality opponents. In addition, some changes in the Bowls we're currently affiliated with will bring enhancement as well. The Toyota Gator Bowl in Jacksonville on New Year's Day will have our opponent, the Big 12 Conference, for two years, the Big East Conference one year, and Notre Dame one year. We think that's a real plus on the opponent side. The Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl will maintain its relationship with the Southeastern Conference and will continue to enhance itself in terms of the financial quality of the Bowl as will the Gator Bowl. Probably the Bowl with maybe the biggest change all the way around will be the Champs Bowl in Orlando. As you know, previously that has been a pre- Christmas game. We have wanted to get away from pre- Christmas games. These eight games as we move forward are all post-Christmas. Pre- Christmas games we have found are difficult sometimes in terms of our institutions' exam schedules and are also difficult at times in terms of fans being able to or being willing to travel immediately prior to Christmas with all the other commitments and family outings and so forth that go along with the Christmas holidays. We were able to work with ESPN and Champs this year, and this year's Champs Bowl is post-Christmas. In the new arrangement, it will continue to be post-Christmas. Their financial payoff to the two schools will be significantly higher than it is now. Our new opponent in that game will be the Big-10. So we're very, very pleased with where that game is headed. On top of the success we've continually had and the terrific relationship that we've had for years with the Toyota Gator Bowl and the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, I think we're in great shape to that point. The Meineke Care Car Bowl, I think you all know how successful that has been in Charlotte, and I'm sure will continue to be. The Music City Bowl has developed itself into a quality game. Virginia Tech and Boston College have both played in that Bowl, and actually they both played in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco, as well. But to pick up those two against the SEC and against the PAC-10 is a tremendous plus for us. We will maintain our relationship with the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise. I know there were a few eyebrows raised the first year we developed that relationship in Boise. But I would tell you, every time one of our schools goes there, they come back having had a terrific time. So we're going to continue that relationship and appreciate that Bowl staying in there with us and giving what might amount to our eighth team the opportunity to have a Bowl experience. When you line all of that up, and I can't give you all of the financial figures at this point, we'll do that eventually, it's just that it's not totally resolved, but from a financial standpoint, from a location standpoint, when you look at the cities these games -- where these games are played, and from an opponent standpoint, as well as the number of games, we think we've upgraded our post-season opportunity tremendously. And obviously that would not have come about if it weren't for the 12-member conference and the quality depth that we now think we're going to have from a football standpoint. Obviously, what we set out to do would be to protect all of our Bowl-eligible teams and try to make sure if at all possible that each of them, if Bowl-eligible, have the opportunity to indeed have a Bowl experience. So we're really excited about these relationships, what they can mean for ACC football. The main part of today's forum that we wanted to focus on is the instant replay. We should be passing out popcorn. We're going to take you to the movies here in a bit and have a little dog and pony show that hopefully will be beneficial to you. I mentioned to the group the other evening, if you could help us educate the sports fans, the ACC football fans and the public out there in terms of what instant replay is and what it isn't, we would be tremendously appreciative to you. I think this is an opportunity to do a great service to fans that watch college football so that they know as much as they can going in about what instant replay is and, as I mentioned, what it isn't. It's not the NFL system. I think in college football, we owe the Big-10 conference a debt of gratitude because they have been willing the last two years really, the first year they did it very privately, but the second year it was much more open and on the field, because they stepped out from the experimental standpoint and tried to find a system that would work for college football and that would be affordable for college football. It's not the NFL system. It's not intended to be the NFL system. I'll be honest with you, I was a little slow to grasp and embrace an instant replay system in college football because my concerns as a fan as much as anything were how intrusive it would be on the game itself and how much it would extend the length of the game, and therefore impact the fans that are sitting in the stadium watching the game. In looking at what the Big-10 did over a two-year period, it was obvious that the approach we're going to use, which very much mirrors the Big-10 model, didn't really do either of those things. It was not intrusive. While it extended the game slightly, it was only slight. In reality, I don't think fans in the stadiums or people watching on television could really have any sense there was an intrusiveness or an extension to the game because of instant replay. I think we all, whether it's you, whether it's my office, whether it's the coaches, the players, the fans, and I'd say most of all the officials on the field, what we all want is to get that critical call right so that the game is fair to the players on the field. I think this will enhance our ability to do this. I think the officials welcome it with open arms because their first desire is to get it right as well. I think it will enhance their ability to do so. We put a lot of work into it starting back in the spring. Had the opportunity in several spring games to use it. We'll have more opportunity in the pre-season to use it so that the individuals that are directly involved with it have that opportunity before the real games begin. Tommy Hunt and Mike Finn and their group have worked very, very hard on this since the decision back in February to put it together and worked with the other conferences. I'm going to ask Tommy to come up and lead our dog and pony show and tell you the particulars about our instant replay system. When he finishes, we'll have an opportunity for questions both of him and if you have questions about anything that I have not talked about or about the Bowls, I'll be back for those questions, as well. So, Tommy, let me turn it over to you.

TOMMY HUNT: Thank you, John. Are there any questions (laughter)? Let me first talk about rule changes. I know you all have been waiting for a year to see what the Rules Committee is going to do about rules changes. Very simple: we have two rule changes this year. They are somewhat minor to the fans. We have two rule changes, but we have 50 editorial changes. Editorial changes many times on many situations turn into rule changes, but the Rules Committee sort of skirts that, puts in a few punctuation points, changes a few words and makes it a rule change and calls it an editorial change. First rule change deals with leaping. You know, last year I spoke to you about leaping, and I told you it would be changed this year. Last year, put in a rule that stated that a player on the defensive side of the ball could not run towards the line on a kick-scoring play, leap into the air and come down on an opponent. I told you that that didn't make sense, and I thought they would change it. They did. Now you can't come down on any player. If you are in the defensive backfield on a kick-scoring play, run to the line of scrimmage, leap into the air, you cannot come down on any player. What brought that about of course is a safety factor. Player runs to the line, trips on his own player, turns a summersault, comes down on the back of his neck, is paralyzed. They changed the rule. I am telling coaches this year to tell their players, "If you can't fly, don't leap." Second rule change dealt with the blocking zone, the three-by-five blocking zone. You can no longer clip in that zone. Clipping is defined in this situation as blocking from the knees down. You can still block in the back, but you cannot block from the knees down. You cannot clip anywhere on the field of play any more. They changed this designation from a -- they called it at one time a free clipping zone. It is now called the rectangular area, so you cannot clip in the rectangular area. They did two other things with rule changes. One, they became more descriptive with unsportsmanlike fouls, that is fouls, celebrations after catches, speaking in a derogatory manner to an opponent. They made these plays more descriptive. They have put those in the book. That is a 15-yard penalty, and you will see most of the time those plays occur after a score. Now, after a score, if you are penalized in that particular situation, it is, of course, a serious foul because you're going to end up kicking from the 20. If you commit two fouls, if two players participate, you're kicking from the 10. If three players participate, you're kicking from the 5. So you can see how serious that can be. If you celebrate and you take your helmet off, you're disqualified. That's two unsportsmanlike fouls on a player and you're out of the game. Those are the two major changes that have taken place along with an editorial change. Now, the other editorial change is they've been a little more descriptive of the dumping the ball by the quarterback. Used to be five yards from the middle lineman, not the snapper, but the middle lineman. Now they've said if you are outside what the normal position of the tackle would be, it is now intentional grounding. So it's not five yards now; it's where the tackle would normally have been. Now, final rule change comes about as a result of instant replay. The rule book has described this as an experimental rule. The NCAA allows each conference to make its own decision. We filed an application with the NCAA and requested that we be allowed to do that, which is now taking place. Let me give you some general information about replay, since it is certainly a big topic this year and will remain that way, of course. You've already been provided with a replay outline, which you probably have with you now. Replay will be used in non-conference games only with the permission of the visiting team through the conference office. That is being done now. If Wake Forest plays at East Carolina and they do not want to use the East Carolina replay officials, they don't have to. I don't think that will be used very widely, but you can refuse to do that. The ACC has invested a considerable amount of personnel and financial resources into putting this plan together. I thank the conference for allowing us to do that in hiring and providing us with the very best replay equipment that we can possibly get. Replay is not a cure-all. We will still make mistakes and there will be mistakes that are not detectable by the replay officials. So understand it is not a cure-all. We would like for it to be but it's not going to work that way. A replay is kind of like buying a new car: it looks good and smells good when you first buy it, but you haven't driven it. Till you drive it, you don't know what kind of car it is. That's what replay will be like for us this year. It's sort of experimental. Until we see it and get all the kinks out of it, we're going to make a few mistakes. So bear with us. The replay officials, the last thing they want to do is shut the game down. We do not want to shut the game down. We hope and our intentions are if we do shut it down, to restrict that time limit to a minute and a half at the most. We hope it will be shorter than that. The Big-10 I think their stoppage last year was probably over two minutes. We've got a system now that is going to provide us with the resources not to do that. We don't want to delay the game. We do not intend for this game to be officiated from the press box. It's still officiated on the field. The replay officials are an added addition to help us get the bottom line on the play, and that is to get it right. There are two plays that can be officiated from the press box, only two. One of those is the quarterback going beyond the line and throwing a forward pass. We can call that from the press box, call it back, if he crosses the line and throws a forward pass. The other play is 11 -- 12 men on the field. If there are 12 men, we can rule on that and bring it back, only after a foul has been called for 12 men and we can see all the players on the field from either the press box or the replay system. The replay booth is off limits to everybody other than the replay officials. I have some plays that we have here that we put together. The quality of the film is not really great because these plays have been looked at so much through the fact that there were so many errors on them from an officiating standpoint, I guess. But we've looked at them so much, the quality is not that great. But you will see in these plays, too, camera angle is of utmost importance. You think you see one thing, but another angle will show you something differently. There are a variety of plays here that cover a lot of different situations. We're not covering every situation. As the plays come across, I'll speak to you about what is taking place in that particular play and why that play would be reviewable or not reviewable. You have a list of what is reviewable. Generally speaking, plays that involve player-to-player contact are not reviewable plays, that is holding, clipping, blocking in the back, personal fouls, things of that nature, fighting. Those things are not reviewable plays. The first play - Scott, if you can run it - this is a replay of what will actually take place during the game. I know the quality of the film... What he's doing now, he's been buzzed on the field. He's coming to the sidelines, going to talk to the replay official about this particular play. The replay official has already seen the play, knows it's a reviewable play, and he's going to speak to the referee. You can see the referee on the phone. He's picked up a fumble. You can see his knee was on the ground when he recovered the fumble. That's the replay official on the booth speaking to him and telling him what he has seen on that particular play. He's coming back and announcing to the fans and the TV audience that this play was reviewed and the fumble recoverer was on the ground. This is a sideline reviewable play. Plays involving the sidelines, inlines and goal lines are reviewable. You watch this play and say the guy stepped out of bounds. You watch this play and you'll say the guy stepped out of bounds. This is a reviewable play, as I said before, because it involves the sidelines. When our replay official sees this play, he will know immediately that this is a play that he needs to look at immediately. Our replay system that the conference has purchased will allow us to do that immediately. Brian in a few minutes will explain that to you from that area. You see here, it still looks like he stepped on the line. They slowed it down. He stepped on the line. This is what the replay official is going to be looking at. But he's also going to be looking at one other thing. He's going to be saying to the truck which gives him a direct feed, "Give me all the plays you have." The truck says, "I have another play that you want to look at." It's that play. That play is more descriptive. You will see here that he doesn't step out of bounds. The official called a touchdown, and the ruling on the field stands, touchdown. Now, if the official thinks he stepped out of bounds, and he did not actually step out of bounds, and the official blows his whistle and stops the game, there's no replay. Nothing we can do about it. In this case, we would correct the -- give the touchdown. If he had stepped out of bounds, we would have brought it back to the point and corrected the clock. Reviewable play. Catch or no catch? He ruled a catch. Our replay person would say, "Send me all you got from the truck." He's ruling catch. Going to run it back. The replay booth is going to give him some more shots of this. Is it a catch? Is it a catch? Was it a catch? This is the decision. It has to be irrefutable video evidence to reverse it. Another play. Forward or backward behind the line of scrimmage. Was this the correct call? Of course, things were made easier here because the pass was not completed (laughter). We still had to go back and determine if this was a second forward pass which would have been loss of down. That's what they called. This is one that can be reversed. As soon as the replay official sees this, he knows this is a possible reversal, and it is a reviewable play. Is it forward or backward? Close. Replay official would determine that if he has irrefutable video evidence. Next play. Catch inbounds or out of bounds? Another reviewable play. Did he catch it inbounds or is he out of bounds when he caught it? This is at Boise State, I think. The only blue field in the world. Did he catch it inbounds? You can't tell there. Our replay man knows immediately that is a reviewable play. Take another look at it. Got a good camera shot. If that other shot was the only camera shot we have, we're going to keep going, not going to stop. But we got another shot. Right foot come down inbounds? Close. Replay official would make the determination. They ruled it incomplete. Could be brought back, called a catch. Now, this play, in order for an extra point or field goal to score, it has to go through the crossbars. If it hits anything on the other side of the crossbar, it's no good. In this instant, it hits the camera which is behind the crossbar. They rule it no good. It is a scoring play which is reviewable. It hits the camera, they wave it no good. Replay official reviews it and says, "Wait, hold it. It hits the camera. It's good. Reverse it." Replay can save you here if this is a winning extra point or field goal. This is an official's nightmare. It's not going to be a nightmare this year. It would have been last year if we had replay. Do you remember this play? Watch. You all know what play this came from. You see, what happened here is overtime, all they needed to do was score and win the game. The officials ruled a score, when in reality he was down on about the three yard line and did not score. But you see what happened is the officials ruled a touchdown. The players celebrated and left the field. Not only that, the officials left the field. There was nobody there to correct the situation. We now have a process in the ACC that as soon as a play occurs like this that is close, our replay people will buzz the field, shut it down and say, "Wait a minute, we're going to look at this play before we determine the score and determine whether the game is over or not." We'll show one shot here, I'll make it short. You'll clearly see his knee was down prior to going into the end zone. Like I say, unfortunately this play has been looked at a billion times. You see his knee is down and he rolls over. Scott, if you could advance it to the next one, they've seen enough of that one. That could be a nightmare for replay officials because the teams left the field and the officials left the field. Roughing the passer is not reviewable. In a game that you obviously see -- this was actually called in this game. But if he had not called it, it's obvious to everybody that it was roughing the passer. If it was not called, it is not reviewable. We cannot correct that situation. The officials on the field are living and dying with that call. Roughing the kicker is not reviewable. Obvious that this guy was roughed. I think this one was called. If it had not been called, we couldn't do anything about it in the press box. He's got to live and die with it on the field. Obviously roughing. It was probably called. If it had not been, we couldn't do anything about it. Not reviewable. Fumble recovery, this is reviewable. No score. Now, this was the earlier play we looked at. I don't remember who the teams were, I think Ohio State may have been involved. Our replay people would pick this up immediately and say that this is a reviewable play, this play needs a look. He's going to be looking at it instantaneously as the play occurs. He's calling the replay guy as we had seen previous to this on the first shot. But you'll see that the player recovers the ball and his knee is on the ground when he recovers it, but he picks it up and runs it in for a touchdown. We bring it back, reset the clock. No. 14 was down when he picked it up. Personal fouls are not reviewable. Watch this play. This is from a couple years back. Not reviewable. If we miss it on the field, another one of those plays, if the field officials miss it, it's just missed. His point is that he was pushed. Going to push me down with that (laughter). This is another personal foul, not reviewable. If it's missed, it's just missed. See, we just didn't see it. I tell our people, I say, "You can see a lot by looking," and some of our people just don't look. Now, this is a scoring play. Is that irrefutable evidence of a score here? Watch the play. They're saying no score. Our people will rerun it. If they have irrefutable evidence it was a score, they can overrule the field officials. It's close. This is why it's so important that our review official be not only an outstanding rules person, but be an outstanding person in good judgment and field experience. Touching of a kick beyond the line. This is an important play, and it can be reviewed. Now, the kicking team says they touched the ball, the receiving team touched the ball, and they recovered it. They say it's their ball. Now, you'll see he -- watch what happens. His own man hits him. His own man hits him. There is a flag on the play for interference with an opportunity to make a catch. But the official missed it. He called it on his own man. The replay official calls down and says, "The kick was not touched. But, by the way, you missed that foul. His own man hit him. You need to reverse that call. Pick up your flag." And they did. That was wrong, you can't do that. A mistake on the field, you got to go with it. Error, sorry. Got to go with it. In the Big-10, they picked up the flag and waved the foul off.

TOMMY HUNT: If you're knocked into the ball, it's disregarded. Your contact would be disregarded if you're pushed, blocked or knocked into the ball. Disregarded. In that play, they made a mistake. They learned through error that you can't do that. You can't officiate from the press box. Okay, scoring play. Reviewable. All scoring plays are reviewable. Our replay people will immediately pick up on scoring plays if they're close like this play. Now, did he score? What we need on all scoring plays are angles. A goal line angle for scoring plays, you got to have it down the goal line. You can see there he dropped the ball, picked it up, his knee was on the ground, then went in to score. Our replay people would pick that up immediately, replay it, and if necessary call down, stop the game and say, "Look, fumble, his knee was on the ground." In this play, the linesman, he almost gives a timeout signal once the ball is loose on the ground. Once the ball is loose on the ground, whistle sounds, forget it, there will be no review. No review no matter what it is. If the fumble is on the ground, we blow the whistle, the ball's lose, no replay, no review. The play could have an inadvertent whistle. We're instructing our officials, "Let the play see itself through prior to whistle." Fumble. We can rule on fumbles. Did he or did he not fumble? This is a reviewable play. Fumbles, change of possession plays are big plays in games, as any coach will tell you. You got to have the right angle on these. Did he fumble the ball or was he on the ground? His hand does not count. Fumble. Replay official picks it up immediately. If we get it right on the field, we're not going to stop it. If they get it wrong on the field, we'll look at it. Scoring play, reviewable. Everybody says this guy was down. Watch. Was he down? Scoring play. Our replay people will pick it up and say, "Let me look at it. Give me all the shots you got from the truck." The umpire is looking for a signal from the side. We got a good angle here at the goal line. Watch the runner. Does he score? Scoring, of course, is the ultimate reward in football. Did he score? Yes, he scored. If we rule it down prior to that, we've got to change it and award a touchdown. Angle. Camera angle is of utmost importance in all those plays. See, he's still not on the ground. The fact that he's on top of one of his players does not make him on the ground. He has to hit the ground. Scoring play. Is there irrefutable video evidence? In this play, we're talking about a safety, but we do not have a goal line angle so we're probably going to let this play stand as it would be on the field because we don't have a good angle of the goal line, whether he was in the field of play or in the end zone when he was down. Close, but it is a scoring play, safety. Intentional grounding is not reviewable. We see plays where we know the quarterback is stuffing the ball, not outside the tackle area, he's throwing it away. The referee misses it, we can't do anything about it. Got to go with the mistake on the field. We can't stop the game, call it now, say that was an illegal forward pass. Holding, not reviewable. Here we are back with player-on-player contact. Two players. 70 is obviously holding, but cannot be reviewed. Mistake on the field, go with it. I will say this. Our system now is going to allow us to grade these officials much more closely than they have been able to in the pass because of this replay system. Pass interference. Y'all will remember this play. This is not reviewable. The play is not reviewable. Big play. Big play. Not reviewable. Pass interference. Fans see it on every pass. See, was that pass interference? That was pass interference. We missed the call. But it's not reviewable. Big play, missed. Error on the field. Not reviewable. There are just some examples. We have a list of 200 plays that are questionable. Questionable plays. A lot of them we can't do anything about. Replay is not a cure-all. It will not solve all of our problems. I'm going to kind of switch it over to the replay desk. This equipment is state-of-the-art. The conference has purchased this. I think the Southeast has purchased it. I think the Big East has purchased it. It has nothing to do with TiVo, whatever it's called (laughter). Doesn't have anything to do with replaying a tape. It's instantaneous. It's instantaneous. Gives us a replay immediately. In a second, I'm going to turn this over to Brian. Our technician today is Brian Davenport from Virginia Tech who is a student through. Our communicator, the guy in the middle, is Dan Woolridge. Dan used to be the supervisor of officials for the Big East. Charlie Kalis is the replay official. The replay official is the person in charge of the replay system in the booth. Only three people in the booth. Charlie Kalis would be the person making the call. He will be the final decision maker. He will decide whether to stop the game and so on. Brian Lowe from DV Sports is going to take over now and explain to you in detail how this system -- how you'll be able to see it on the board here. It's a computer, complicated to me, but to Brian and these people it's a very simple system. But you'll see how good it is, how quick it is. We will on many occasions have the decision made before the referee gets to the phones on the sidelines. That's how quick this system will be. So we don't expect any game delay. I might mention, too, after this question and answer period with the Commissioner, maybe you have some questions for me, I hope not, but it's possible, but Brian and Charlie and Dan will be there to demonstrate it to you where you can go and stand and look at it. Brian, I'll turn it over to you. Thank you.

BRIAN LOWE: What we're going to do for the next five minutes or so is kind of walk you through this system, what it does, what the components are so you have an overview. We're going to show you one play up on the screen and walk through it as it would happen in the replay booth just to give you an idea. There's going to be three people in the replay booth. There's a technician that's provided by the school. The technician's role is to be watching the TV feed. One of the questions you might have is if we don't have TV, what feed are we going to be watching? There are score boards in each stadium, they'll have a minimum of four camera angles. Non-TV game, we'll still have video. The thought there is having some angles is better than no angles. Whether it's TV or not, this person in the technician's role will be watching that feed come in. The same feed you would see at home, it's coming off the TV truck. One difference is it's going to be live. No time delay. This feed will not cut away to another game or anything like that. It's going to maintain the actual game that's happening on the field. This person will be marking each of the plays as they come in in each of the replays. This is basically going to send it down the line there. The technician provided by the school is going to be marking the plays as they come in. He will be sending them to this computer in the middle, which is the touch screen monitor. On the left side of the board is what we're seeing here in the middle. Each of the plays, they're going to be represented by a little box there. The top left-hand corner, we're on play three at the moment, those are the replays that go along with play three. We're going to be able to touch these things and push those over to the replay official here on the right. What makes this thing good is that the speed with which we can move between a replay and back to the original play. You'll see in the upcoming play here you may have to piece a play together to get the correct call. What I mean by that is I might have to look at one angle to see whether or not possession was made. I may have to look at another angle to see whether or not his feet are inbounds. The ability to jump back and forth between angles is key. We also have some information that can be added during the play itself, so there's information about how much time we're taking, what the call was, all of that. That's an important factor, as well. 90 seconds or less, that's our goal. Same goal as you have in the NFL system as far as what you're reviewing. The five spring games we did this year, most of our calls ended up in that range. That's our goal. We're not trying to prolong or extend this game. We want to get the call right; we want to get it done quickly. This is going to allow us to do this. This will turn a different color as it passes the minute mark, trying to keep these guys aware of what's going on, trying to keep them on pace. The far right is the replay official, the TA as you know him from the past. He will be reviewing each of the plays. As the plays come up, it's going to be sent over to the replay official. If I just touch one of these real quick, it will send it over to the replay official instantly. He can watch this as soon as the play is happening or wait till the play is over. These guys will be at the stadium. There's a glass obviously right here. They can see the field. It's important, too, they can see the field so there's more information they're picking up. If the next play is about to be snapped, we need to know whether we make a decision or not. The key in this booth is going to be speed with which you make the decision to stop the play on the field, whether you shut it down or not. After we shut it down, we're going to have a little time to review the plays as they come in. The key is, do we make the decision to shut the play down, yes or no? We're going to have about 20 seconds, maybe 30 at the most to make that decision. What we want to do next is actually go through a play. You will see this play happen in real-time as it would during a game. There's the play as it comes up on the left-hand side. That's what we'll see live at the game. What we're going to see on the output monitor, you'll be able to hit that play, send it over to the replay official. The replay official will be able to go through and review this play. Also, behind this system, there is going to be a TiVo system. The Big-10 model, if you will, is sitting behind this. There's a TiVo box sitting behind this. If there was something that happened with the computer on that side, we can switch the output monitor over to the TiVo system, and that is our backup. That's something that is in there, in every replay system. Here is the play itself as it's happening live. We're then going to feed it over to the replay monitor. The replay monitor can start watching it right away. He has full control of this. What you're seeing on the right-hand side is actually the replay screen. That's why he's able to pause it, able to make a determination. So as this play just happened, he has it in his hand immediately to be able to make the call. The ruling on the field, incomplete. Ruling on the field is incomplete. Replay is up. We have a second angle. They will communicate this down to the replay official whether or not he wants this angle. He's going to come down with the ball. Does his left foot get inbounds? Does he have possession? Ruling on the field, incomplete. We're coming to the line of scrimmage. This was a third-down play. They're going to stop the play. That was a real pace there of actually watching that play go through in real-time. The key piece there is do we have enough time to see the angles we needed to make the decision to stop it? Now that we've shut the play down, we now have about 90 seconds to go through and get this correct, okay? But the key is the decision up front. Do we shut the play down, stop it or not? As you see the guys on the left screen, there are now additional angles that are coming in so we can go through and bounce between the different angles. The replay official is going to piece together, did his left foot come inbounds? Do his hands have possession of the ball, yes or no? I think the determination here we're looking to do, you can see the clock is ticking, 45, 46 seconds, we're looking for a decision now, two different angles. Possession with his hands, whether his left foot is inbounds. Now we have a decision. They've looked at those angles, four different angles, five different angles, and we've now determined we have a decision. What's going to happen on the field is as soon as we buzz the referee on the field is going to stop play, run over to the sideline, put a headset on. He'll be talking to the replay official in the booth. They will be communicating back and forth, "What happened? Had him out of bounds, didn't think his left foot came down. We're looking at it, he has possession." The things now that have to communicated if it's going to be overturned, number one, do we have enough evidence to overturn? Yes. Number two, what is the down and distance? Where do we stop the ball? What's the time on the clock? Those are key pieces of information the replay booth must communicate back down to the field. We're going to spot this ball on the three yard line, first and 10, Clemson's ball going in. The replay itself is taking approximately a minute. We have 57 seconds up there, whatever we had when we stopped it. The speed with which we can review the angle, switch back and forth with the touch screen, that is what differentiates this system and makes it more like the NFL system than it does like the Big-10 model with the TiVo that you're rewinding and fast forwarding back and forth. Speed is important. The best thing that can happen is if we can't see the angles, we go back to what was called on the field. If we do stop the game and we can't determine, all of you have seen an NFL game where you can't tell whether he was in and out or what happened, the best thing is we go back to what was called on the field and we go with that. We're not trying to stop a play to review it to let him know he made a correct call. We're going to review every play, but every play is not reviewable. If we see that the correct call was made on the field, we're not going to stop it to let him know the correct call was made on the field. What the coaches are now understanding, they're knowing that every play was looked at. And the confidence with which, "If they didn't stop the game, there must have been the correct call on the field." At this time we'll turn it back over to Tommy. We will be here if you have any questions or would like to come up and see. We have other plays you can look at.

TOMMY HUNT: Thank you, Brian. John, questions.

COMMISSIONER SWOFFORD: Brian was a former kicker at Boston College. Thank you. Looks like he learned something. Any questions of Tommy in regard to the replay system? Anything you can do to educate our fan base, it would be appreciated. If there's no direct competitive effect on the game, it's not going to be stopped or changed at that point. Any questions in regard to replay? There is a sheet that I think each of you have that we put together in talking with other conferences to give you a comparison of how the various conferences are doing this. I think you know this year is an experimental year, so I think it's highly likely that if indeed it is decided by the Rules Committee to fully implement instant replay, all the conferences would be doing it the same next year.

TOMMY HUNT: We may be able to help identify people, but we feel that the video evidence is best handled through the Commissioner's office with the Commissioner, and not get into disqualifying players. And it is not one of the items listed by the NCAA that's reviewable.

TOMMY HUNT: Well, I really -- that's a judgment call. Everybody would see it differently. But you saw some examples there that were obviously pass interference that my grandmother could have called. But the NCAA just didn't see that this was one of the items they wanted to put in. This is all, as I said earlier, experimental. Some things may be changed and added to the rule book as time goes on. They told us that is not a reviewable item, correct.

TOMMY HUNT: I'm not sure. John would probably be able to answer that. I don't know what the Commissioners have decided on that.

COMMISSIONER SWOFFORD: I don't think they've fully resolved that at this point in time. I think where it appears to be headed is that certainly at the BCS level, it will be used at the cost of the Conferences rather than the Bowls this year. But in terms of the entire Bowl system, I don't think that's been fully resolved yet. It would be the Commissioners' desire that it be used in all Bowl games. As I said, I think there needs to be some further discussion on that.

TOMMY HUNT: Yes, we have a system in place with our replay people already through our user's guide, quite extensive in plays of that nature. At the end of the game, when it's a game-winning score you're referring to, we are going to -- our replay people will recognize that this is a close call, questionable, and they're going to buzz the officials immediately. The officials will stay on the field. If the players celebrate, we'll clear the field and look at the replay and we will announce at that time that that play is being reviewed for whether it can be reversed or not. That can be a pretty tense moment, I'm sure, whether it was good or not. But we do have a system in place to handle that situation that happened in the San Diego/Virginia game, which was a nightmare.

COMMISSIONER SWOFFORD: Yes, in terms of the personnel, that is complete. In terms of the costs, in total it ran about $450,000 initially, which when you break it down to 12 schools is not terribly expensive actually. And then any other additional cost at the institutional level had to do with what each school might have had to do to create a booth in the press box that was secure for the personnel to use, the replay booth. That varies. Some schools had to do practically nothing and others had to do some significant work. Tommy, do you want to talk about the personnel any further?

TOMMY HUNT: The personnel is all in place. As I said before, we've hired seven replay officials, as Charlie Kalis is one of those people, and communicators. All have different jobs. The seven or eight replay officials are from different parts of the East Coast. They are all experienced, highly respected officials with excellent rule knowledge, experience on the field. They will travel. They will not stay at one school all the time. They will go from school to school. In most cases, they will only be at one school -- at a school one time during a season. They go to Miami one time, that's it, they won't go back to Miami. The communicator will more than likely be at that school most of the time. He's not in the decision-making position as a replay official would be.

TOMMY HUNT: I know the play. That would have been a reviewable play. It was a scoring play, reviewable. It would have been reversed. These are plays that replay can save us.

TOMMY HUNT: They'll have an opportunity, but we're not going to let them do it (laughter). They will have the chance, but we're going to shut it down. If we see a play that's suspect, and the communicator, that's part of his job, talking in the press box, "They're in the huddle, coming out of the huddle, they're at the line scrimmage." He'll tell the replay guy. There will be five boxes on the field. You know when it's going to be shut down because all those boxes go off at the same time, and all the officials will do the little shake, knowing that buzzer has gone off. But we'll shut it down. We're not going to let them snap the ball under those pretenses of getting this off before the replay official has a chance to look at it. We're going to catch that. We're going to be quick enough with this equipment to stop that. That's an unfair tactic.

TOMMY HUNT: A minimum of four cameras. I think that is in-house production. Network production, they will have as many as seven or eight, I would presume.

TOMMY HUNT: Exactly. The four-camera deal would be a camera probably from the press box, a camera from the end zone, and two hand-held cameras on the sideline to cover sideline and goal line plays. We feel like four cameras is the minimum. Camera angle, as you have already seen, is absolutely essential.

TOMMY HUNT: It is not reviewable.

TOMMY HUNT: I hate to avoid the question, but it's that way because the NCAA chose it to be that way. I'm not trying to give a smart answer. That was their decision. There are a number of plays that our replay people, and we have 200 of them, of situations that involve plays that we think would be reviewable. For instance, end of the game, you're on the two yardline, and it is fourth down. The officials are getting ready to give the team a fifth down. They've lost a down. You can buzz them and say, "Wait a minute, you're getting ready to give them a fifth down, you can't do it." They're going to die with that on the field, fifth down. You cannot do that. That's not a reviewable item. The temptation in the box by these replay people will be such that, "Gosh, I got to save these guys. They're getting ready to blow this game off." But you can't do it. They got to live and die with it on the field. Of course, if they miss a down, they're going to miss more than just a down, that's for sure (laughter).

COMMISSIONER SWOFFORD: What you look at and what you can't is consistent from conference to conference. That's determined by the NCAA Rules Committee. In other words, we can't decide in the ACC we're going to take a look and change this kind of play, but the Big-10 isn't. That part of it is consistent throughout, right, Tommy?

TOMMY HUNT: Right.

COMMISSIONER SWOFFORD: It's the NCAA Rules Committee's decision.

TOMMY HUNT: These things will be more precise next year. As I said about the car situation, once we've played this, driven this car, we'll know all these factors, and they'll all be put in writing in the rule book and will probably be Rule No. 12. Be easier to put Rule 12 in. In case you ever have to decide to take out replay, take out Rule 12. You don't have to go through the rule book and take out all these examples. Rule 12 will probably be replay next year.

TOMMY HUNT: No. The play will be marked on our system here, bookmarked. If this is a play we need to look at for review later, it will be bookmarked. This video will be available immediately after the game. I'll have a copy. The replay official will have a copy to grade from. He'll send that copy to me. I'll have it Monday. I don't usually get many calls or much film on Monday because Saturdays are usually perfect so we don't have any problems (laughter). But seriously, Monday is a pretty busy day if we've had a bad weekend. But to answer your question, all this information is available immediately, not through the tape, but through this video disc that we have. All concise.

COMMISSIONER SWOFFORD: We're not involved in that. That's been ESPN and the cable companies. They will have a few of our games as kind of a last-pick sort of thing after ABC and ESPN and Raycom Jefferson-Pilot have all picked their games if there's some left. If ESPNU wants to pick them up, they do have that right and capability and will do so on a couple of games. But we're not involved in any discussions with ESPN and the cable companies. That's solely between those two. Again, thank you for being here in such large numbers. I hope you've enjoyed it. Hope you've gotten some good work done. Thank you.