Section 6: Reviewing an On-Field Ruling
ARTICLE 1.
a. When a game is to be stopped either by the replay official or by a head coach's challenge, the designated officials on the field will be notified by a paging system or other appropriate means.
b. If the review is initiated by the replay official, the referee shall announce:
“The ruling on the previous play is ... (brief description of ruling). The play is under further review.”
If the game has been stopped due to a head coach's challenge, the referee shall announce:
“The (name of institution) head coach has challenged the ruling of (state the ruling). The play is under further review.”
c. All reviews shall be based upon video evidence provided by and coming directly from the televised production of the game or from other video means available to the replay official that is also available to the television producer.
d. After the referee has conferred with the replay official and the review process has been completed, the referee shall make one of the following announcements:
1. If the video evidence confirms the on-field ruling or if the evidence is not clear and obvious to overturn the on-field ruling:
“After further review, the ruling on the field is upheld.”
2. If the on-field ruling is overturned (Rule 12-7):
“After further review, the ruling is [followed lay a brief description of the video evidence]. Therefore, [followed by a brief description of the impact of the ruling.”
e. If a ruling is overturned, the replay official shall supply the referee with all pertinent data as needed (next down, distance, yard line, position of the ball, clock status/adjustment) in order to resume play under the correct game conditions. If replay has all of the information required to overturn the on-field ruling, O2O may be utilized to facilitate the process.
ARTICLE 2.
a. There is no restriction on the number of times the replay official may stop a game for reviews.
b. The expectation is that the replay official will not exceed two minutes to complete a review. If the review has end of game impact or has multiple aspects as a part of the review, it should be completed efficiently but will have no stated time limit.
