Colorado Springs – The Big 12 is down to the details for next season’s instant-replay system in football.
The conference plans to use the same format as the Big Ten, pending a final vote this week, football committee chair and Colorado coach Gary Barnett said Tuesday.
“I guess if all the Big Ten guys liked it, why wouldn’t we?” Barnett said. “It’s like the wheel has been invented. After you go through it a year, then you have a better feel for it.”
Under the Big Ten format, an official sits in a booth to review close plays. Coaches are not allowed challenges. Most Big 12 head coaches have no issues with the system. Baylor coach Guy Morriss is torn.
“Part of me figures that’s OK,” said Morriss, who has a history with instant replay from his days as an NFL assistant with Arizona and New England. “But part of me, from my NFL days, thinks that we need challenges.”
Instant replay will cost the Big 12 $450,000 to $500,000, commissioner Kevin Weiberg said.
The conference may be able to recoup some of those expenses by providing nontelevised games to broadcast partners, such as Fox Sports or Internet services, for a price. Weiberg said the Big 12 will produce all games that aren’t televised.
The biggest question is how nonconference, nontelevised games will be produced. In those cases, it is up to the individual school, with the consent of the opponent.
Nothing on realignment
No discussion took place among football coaches on the subject of Big 12 realignment, said Barnett, who added there is almost no chance it will ever become a reality.
There had been talk about the possibility of a one-division system, in which the top two teams advance to the championship game. But in addition to the apathy from most of the league’s coaches, NCAA legislation likely would stand in the way as well.
NCAA rules mandate that to have a championship game, there must be a two-division format in which the champion from each advances to the title tilt.
“You’d have to seek an NCAA legislative change if you were interested in that idea,” Weiberg said. “But the discussion with football coaches, outside two or three of them there really wasn’t much interest in the discussion.”
Bowling update
Holdups with possible new ties to the Gator Bowl and Capital One Bowl will prevent the Big 12 from sorting out its regular bowl contracts, which expire at the end of the 2005 season. Weiberg wasn’t optimistic that they could be worked out by a previously set deadline of June 6. … Big 12 men’s basketball will experiment with a 20-foot, 9- inch 3-point line and 14-foot lane during exhibition games in the winter.
Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-820-5455 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
