[North Woods]

Sadly you come to expect it: play is close enough to review, announcers can see the right call, yet the opposite call is made in the replay booth.

Any referees will make mistakes but on reviewable plays they should be better. The lateral/forward pass, reviewing the ball placement vs. University of South Bend should have been clear yet...

For the matter, existing technology should be able to help them further at relatively low cost. Give them a tool to draw a line straight across the field so they can see where the ball started and finished on the lateral (though of course last night there was a yard marker super close but they still got it wrong). Using computers to mark start/finish position of the ball would be even more accurate. Adapt goal line technology from soccer to see if part of the ball crosses the goal line at any point before the official judges a player to be down. Track official first down distance with computers which should be more accurate than guys eyeballing the initial spot but then inferring more accuracy after running from the sideline to the ball with the chains. Etc.

Some plays will always require judgment. That’s fine and part of the game. But they should be much better on the rest and at least use tools that could reasonably be made available. Could get it right much more — often in real time which would have additional benefit of speeding up play.

[North Woods]

Sadly you come to expect it: play is close enough to review, announcers can see the right call, yet the opposite call is made in the replay booth.

Any referees will make mistakes but on reviewable plays they should be better. The lateral/forward pass, reviewing the ball placement vs. University of South Bend should have been clear yet...

For the matter, existing technology should be able to help them further at relatively low cost. Give them a tool to draw a line straight across the field so they can see where the ball started and finished on the lateral (though of course last night there was a yard marker super close but they still got it wrong). Using computers to mark start/finish position of the ball would be even more accurate. Adapt goal line technology from soccer to see if part of the ball crosses the goal line at any point before the official judges a player to be down. Track official first down distance with computers which should be more accurate than guys eyeballing the initial spot but then inferring more accuracy after running from the sideline to the ball with the chains. Etc.

Some plays will always require judgment. That’s fine and part of the game. But they should be much better on the rest and at least use tools that could reasonably be made available. Could get it right much more — often in real time which would have additional benefit of speeding up play.