ACC bets on being 1st league in college football to bring TV viewers inside live replay reviews

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Florida State and Virginia were locked in a double-overtime thriller as the ball headed to Seminoles receiver Duce Robinson in the end zone.

Robinson bobbled the catch, then continued that juggle through the back of the end zone and out of bounds. The call was a touchdown, the kind of narrow-margin play certain to get closer scrutiny in replay review.

Only now, TV viewers for Atlantic Coast Conference games like that one get a clear window into how officials decide to overturn or uphold those calls.

The ACC is the first college league to let viewers listen live to reviews during select broadcasts. There's no waiting for referees to take off their headset after a mystery-filled stoppage and deliver a verdict. Instead, viewers can hear frame-by-frame discussions between stadium officials and the replay command center at the league headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.

It's offered a welcome dose of transparency, along with rave reviews for taking viewers somewhere they've never been before.

“You hear the whole conversation,” said Bryan Jaroch, ESPN vice president of sports production. “That transparency takes out any of the second-guessing of how they came to their decision. I would love to see this across every conference. We're trying to push for that. But I think it's exactly what we need to do.”

The debut came with 6:34 left in the first quarter of the Aug. 30 game between SMU and East Texas A&M on the ACC Network, a review that overturned a fumble call on Mustangs quarterback Kevin Jennings by ruling his arm was coming forward for an incompletion.

There have been seven games with the replay listen-in, generally earmarked for Friday night broadcasts on ESPN or ESPN2, as well as Saturday nights on the ACC Network. The plan can vary beyond that based on the volume of games monitored by the replay center at any one time, such as adding the Clemson-Georgia Tech game on Sept. 13 on ESPN with only one other ACC team playing in that same noon Eastern slot.

The ACC and ESPN, which have a media rights deal through the 2035-36 season, are still tinkering with the visual presentation of video overlays and graphics. But the experiment already has succeeded in pulling back the curtain with reviews, most notably with critical late calls such as Robinson's later-overturned catch in FSU's loss at Virginia.

“I think generally speaking, when people communicate, things get better,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said. “Because when people don’t communicate, then people assume, right? Our brains are designed to tell stories, so we either have the facts of the story or we make up the facts of the story.

“So I think it’s a good move for the league. It seems like it’s been well-received, to at least hear the thought process behind upheld, reversal, whatever. So at least people know what’s being said.”

The next usage comes with a spotlight of Saturday night's matchup between No. 3 Miami and No. 18 Florida State.

“So here it is at prime time on ABC,” Jaroch said. “So I think even more people will see it and say: ‘Wow, that is amazing. That’s exactly what we’re looking for.’”

ESPN had experimented with providing access to replay-review conversations going back to XFL games in 2023. The broadcaster had worked with the ACC last year to have a rules analyst listen to conversations between the on-field referee, the stadium replay official in the booth and the Charlotte replay center.

Then ESPN suggested letting viewers listen in, too.

The ACC had been working with off-site replay assistance for roughly a decade back to its previous home in Greensboro. When it opened its current headquarters in Charlotte two years ago, the plan included a video feed in the new command center showing replay officials huddling around monitors to study replays.

“We always say we have nothing to hide in that room,” said Michael Strickland, league senior vice president for football. "We wanted to put our money where our mouth was. So we started with the camera and that worked well. TV liked to use it.

“This sharing of the audio is kind of just the next iteration of that underlying philosophy that we've had for quite a while. And it is reflective of the ACC being willing to be a first mover in many different areas.”

Jaroch credited the ACC for making “a leap of faith" by putting those pressure-packed reviews on display. As he said: “Access always wins when it comes to fans.”

Strickland credited Commissioner Jim Phillips for signing off on the idea as good for the league and, more broadly, the sport.

“He could've easily said, ‘I don’t want to take that risk,'" Strickland said. “But he did not. He went the other route. It's pretty awesome to work for somebody who believes in a group of people like he did and does.”

The ACC has had high-profile chances to show viewers how reviews work.

Take a late TD catch in the Clemson-Georgia Tech game, for example. The Tigers' Josh Sapp hauled in a pass near the back of the end zone and pinned the ball against his left thigh, then bobbled it further as he fell out of bounds.

The broadcast showed game referee Adam Savoie communicating via headset with the stadium replay official and the replay center crew in Charlotte. But now the audio fills in formerly missing gaps in that evaluation as officials combed through multiple angles in slow-motion playback.

“Do you see a loss of control with the foot in the white?" Savoie eventually asked.

“I don't think he has control there,” a voice replied.

“I agree with you,” Savoie said before announcing the call was overturned.

Or there was the review of Robinson's near-catch in the Virginia loss — “Still moving here, still moving,” a voice said of the ball in a frame-by-frame narration — as momentum carried Robinson out of the end zone before securing the catch.

“We believe in everybody that's involved in the process,” Strickland said. “Because if we didn't believe in them, they wouldn't be here. So why not do it at the end of the day? And it's nice to see that faith has been rewarded.”

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