If you watch a lot of college football, and I do, you’re quite familiar with instant replay, where officials check on what they might consider a questionable call. Like whether that was actually a fumble, or if someone’s knee was down before the first down. There’s a long list of times when a play is in fact reviewable, a process that’s often started by the officials up in the replay booth. Replay technically started in 2004 and was used far more sparingly in its onset – and generally spurred by a coach’s challenge, letting teams protest a limited number of times when they think the refs got it wrong.
That strategic application has given way to far more robust usage, although rules vary conference by conference. But if you’re watching a game from teams in the Power Four conferences, you are definitely going to see a whole lot of refs walking to the sideline for reviews of a whole bunch of consequential plays.
That should make us feel good. I mean, instead of complaining about all the calls the refs got wrong, now the refs could take the time to get it right. The more deserving team would win. Sure, it might take an extra 30 minutes to play a game, and it really hurts when it’s your side that’s getting a touchdown overturned because replay showed your running back fumbled at the 1-yard line. But we’d have fair sport, as God intended. Only sometimes, we still don’t.
That’s what happened a couple of weeks back when Michigan stole victory from the jaws of defeat after a replay of the assumed final play against underdog Western Michigan was reviewed. It seemed as if Western Michigan had just pulled off the upset of the year, with Michigan missing on a final Hail Mary toss from midfield. Only after the review, the officials determined there should be one second left based on some secret clock no one knew about, and Michigan got a second chance and actually completed a miracle heave to win the game.
Well, this past week, the NCAA Oversight Committee admitted the officials didn’t follow the right protocols for the replay, and if they had, Western Michigan would have won the game. But unfortunately, even though that’s true, the NCAA also acknowledged they couldn’t change the score, as the oversight committee does not have the authority to overturn a final game outcome. So yes, the refs made a mistake that cost Western Michigan the game - using replay, no less, the thing that was supposed to protect us from this very outcome. And no, there’s nothing they can do about it even though we all know the truth.
This result could swing the pendulum of the entire football season, as Michigan is now undefeated and seemingly building steam. It also could mean nothing, if the Wolverines fade as time goes on. Either way, Western Michigan will hold a grudge forever, if they didn’t resent Michigan enough already. But there’s a couple of things to consider here, beyond any particular angst and joy. First, this very result gives oxygen to everyone who lobbies against machines taking over. Replay officiating was supposed to make football fair, and we’d accept its inconvenience and interruption as a cost. But it turns out, even with technology, we can still get things wrong. So why bother. Why not simply return to human refs and play the game as it was intended. I’m not saying I agree, but it does have interesting analogy to the conversation around AI.
Second, knowing that this result is wrong, and Western Michigan should have won, and we still aren’t going to do anything about that, it brings to question our motivations for watching sport in the first place. If we cared really deeply about the game and its integrity, we’d probably all be disgusted by Michigan’s win, so much that we’d stop watching. But that’s not what happened - not this time, and not anytime a really bad call happens. After the outrage, fans came right back the following week, as if this injustice is part of the sport’s true appeal. Perhaps we don’t watch sports in spite of its unfair imperfection. Maybe it’s because of it. And, not to be too grandiose, but maybe what we’re all searching for is something a bit more human in the face of increased artificiality.
Maybe that’s the metaphor for sport and life.
That said, Western Michigan still should have won. Just watch the replay.
Keith Strudler is the Dean of the College of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. You can follow him at @KeithStrudler.
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